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HOME  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
OF  MODERN  KNOWLEDGE 

No.  96 

Editors : 

HERBERT  FISHER,  M.A.,  F.B.A. 
Prof,  gilbert  MURRAY,  LiTT.D., 
LL.D.,  F.B.A. 

prof.  j.  arthur  thomson,  m.a. 
Prof.  William  t.  brewstbr.  m.a. 


A  complete  classified  list  of  the  volumes  of  The 
Home  University  Library  already  published 
will  be  found  at  the  back  of  this  book. 


BELGIUM 


BY 

R.  C.  K.  ENSOR 

SOUCTIUS  SCHOLAR  OF   BALLIOL  COLLEGE,  OXFOaD 


NEW  YORK 
HENRY   HOLT   AND    COMPANY 

LONDON 
WILLIAMS   AND    NORGATE 


32? 


m 


W7  ^ 


CONTENTS 


OHAP. 

I      INTRODUCTORY 


PAOR 

9 


II      GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE  COUN- 
TRY   22 

III  GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE         40 

IV  THE   HISTORIC  GLORIES   OF    BELGIUM  .  65 
V      THE   HISTORIC   SUBJECTION   OP   BELGIUM     .  97 

VI      THE   ESTABLISHMENT  OP   INDEPENDENCE    .       123 

VII      THE   BELGIAN   CONSTITUTION  .  .  .142 

VIII       POLITICS   AND    PARTIES.  .  .  .       166 

IX      SOCIAL   CONDITIONS   AND   AGENCIES  .  .       195 

X      ART   AND    LITERATURE  ....       222 

BIBLIOGRAPHY       .  .  .  .  .251 

INDEX 253 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

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littp://www.arcli  ive.org/details/belgiumensorOOensoiala 


BELGIUM 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 

The  events  of  August  1914  and  their 
sequel  have  shown  Belgium  to  many  in  a 
new  light.  They  have  seen  a  nation  where 
they  had  supposed  that  there  was  only  a 
geographical  expression.  They  have  seen 
martial  courage  where  they  had  forgotten 
that  it  had  been  famous  for  centuries.  They 
have  been  surprised  to  find  in  this  little  land 
so  much  chivalrous  honour  and  so  much  civic 
patriotism.  They  need  to  be  reminded  that 
its  nobility  headed  the  Crusades  and  that 
its  common  people  established  the  first  free 
city  life  north  of  the  Alps. 

Belgium  is  the  most  accessible  country  on 
the  Continent  to  the  English;  and  it  has 
been  visited  by  numberless  Americans  since 
Longfellow's  day.  But  it  is  proverbially  easy 
to    overlook    what    lies    under    one's    nose. 

A  2 


10  BELGIUM 

Those  of  us  who  have  long  been  aware  that 
Belgium  is  something  more  than  a  collection 
of  old  buildings  and  Old  Masters,  or  a  stopping- 
place  on  the  journey  to  Germany  or  Switzer- 
land, can  but  welcome  the  new  interest 
which  is  being  taken  in  her  by  the  wider 
public  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  For 
she  is  worthy  of  it.  The  episode  which  the 
world  admires  and  pities  is  not  an  historical 
accident,  ennobling  by  chance  the  record  of 
an  ignoble  people.  If  under  the  ordeal  they 
have  acted  greatly,  it  was  because  they  had 
greatness  in  them. 

Anyone  studying  the  Belgians  for  the  first 
time  must  beware  of  mixing  condescension 
with  his  interest.  He  will  do  well  to  grasp 
four  facts  about  them  as  early  as  possible. 
They  are  a  nation.  They  are  an  old  nation. 
They  are  a  proud  nation.  They  are  a  nation 
which  has  a  good  deal  to  teach  as  well  as  to 
learn. 

They  are  a  nation ;  even  though  they  have 
no  national  language.  A  hasty  critic  once 
described  them  as  a  "  fortuitous  concatena- 
tion of  mongrels — Latin  mongrels  talking 
bad  French,  and  Teutonic  mongrels  talking 
bad  Dutch."  Undoubtedly  they  are,  like 
the  English,  of  hybrid  origin.  Undoubtedly 
Belgium,  like  England,  has  been  a  meeting- 


INTRODUCTORY  11 

point  between  the  French  language  and 
culture  and  the  Low-German  language  and 
culture.  In  the  one  country,  separated  by 
the  sea  both  from  France  and  Low-Germany, 
the  languages  fused  and  formed  the  hybrid 
speech  in  which  this  book  is  written.  In 
the  other  they  remained  distinct.  But  in 
both  a  nation  was  formed,  and  exists. 

They  are  an  old  nation.  The  political 
union  in  West  Belgium  between  the  Flemings 
of  Flanders  and  the  Walloons  of  Hainaut, 
and  that  in  East  Belgium  between  the 
Flemings  of  Brabant  and  the  Walloons  of 
Limburg,  Namur,  and  Luxemburg,  were  being 
perpetually  wrought,  unwrought,  and  wrought 
again  in  the  three  centuries  between  1050  and 
1350,  during  which  the  Norman  and  French 
dynasties  consolidated  the  kingdom  of 
England  and  Wales.  The  combining  of  the 
two  combinations,  that  is  to  say,  of  all  Belgium 
except  Li^ge,  dates  from  the  fifteenth  century ; 
and  it  has  never  been  broken  since.  Through 
prosperity  and  adversity  (and  adversity  is 
sometimes  the  more  consolidating  of  the  two) 
all  Belgians,  save  those  of  Li6ge,  have  been 
united  under  the  same  governments  for  nearly 
five  hundred  years.  There  are  not  many 
European  nations  whose  people  can  claim 
as  much. 


12  BELGIUM 

They  are  a  proud  nation.  How  should 
they  not  be?  From  the  time  when  the 
Walloon  dynasty  of  Charles  Martel  and 
Charlemagne  relaid  the  foundations  of 
settled  life  in  Europe,  down  to  the  time  when 
Antwerp  was  the  shipping  metropolis  of  the 
world,  theirs  was  always  the  most  civilised 
country  north  of  the  Mediterranean  water- 
sheds. If  they  subsequently  endured  for 
three  centuries  such  miseries  at  the  hands 
of  foreigners  as  not  even  Italy  has  suffered, 
it  was  their  misfortune,  not  their  fault.  If 
they  survived;  if  they  preserved  through 
the  fiery  trial  not  only  their  national  life 
but  their  national  love  of  art,  industry,  and 
liberty;  if,  starting  behind  all  the  Western 
nations  eighty-five  years  ago,  they  have  since 
reached  the  very  front  rank  in  the  rivalries 
of  peace  and  progress,  can  they  be  expected 
to  like  hearing  their  behaviour  in  the  European 
War  praised  as  if  it  was  the  first  title  to 
respect  that  they  had  ever  earned  ? 

They  are  a  nation,  which  has  a  good  deal 
to  teach  as  well  as  to  learn.  Look,  for  ex- 
ample, at  their  constitution.  Great  Britain 
can  learn  from  Belgium  that  it  is  possible 
to  take  ancient  liberties,  embodied  in  vener- 
able charters  and  century-old  customs  and 
understandings,  and  to  codify  them  into  a 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

clear  logical  modern  document,  legible  for 
all  and  almost  insusceptible  of  doubts,  with- 
out destroying  their  sanctity  and  efficacy 
in  the  process.  The  United  States  can  learn 
that  it  is  possible  to  have  a  written  constitu- 
tion, and  a  Judicature  which  can  invalidate 
laws  conflicting  with  it,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  have  a  Legislature  which  never  passes 
such  laws.  Look,  again,  at  their  industry 
and  thrift.  Eighty-five  years  ago  they  were 
poverty-stricken;  even  in  the  'forties  and 
'fifties  it  was  common  to  compare  Flanders 
with  Ireland.  Now  for  many  years  theirs 
has  been  the  one  nation  in  the  world  besides 
those  old-established  bankers,  Britain,  France, 
and  Holland,  which  has  a  sufficient  surplus 
of  capital  beyond  its  own  requirements  to  be 
a  large  lender  to  other  countries.  Look  at 
the  unrivalled  system  of  transit  and  transport 
facilities,  which  the  Belgian  State  has  de- 
veloped, with  its  network  of  railways,  light 
railways,  canals,  and  ship  canals.  Or  look 
at  its  attempts  to  deal  with  the  housing 
problem — perhaps  the  most  successful  made 
in  any  European  country. 

The  present  volume  will  have  fulfilled  its 
purpose,  if  it  enables  some  of  its  readers  to 
realise  the  national  character  and  achieve- 
ments of  the  Belgian  people  a  little  better 


14  BELGIUM 

than  they  have  done  hitherto.  It  makes 
no  pretence  of  being  an  exhaustive  social 
study  of  modern  Belgium;  nor  does  it  pre- 
sume to  throw  on  its  history  any  lights 
which  have  not  been  thrown  before.  It  is 
not  meant  as  a  gossiping  guide-book;  still 
less  as  a  statistical  abstract.  Books  filling 
all  of  these  r61es  with  varying  degrees  of 
success  already  exist;  and  the  present 
moment  would  be  a  peculiarly  unsuitable 
one  for  adding  to  their  number  when  Belgium 
is  nearly  all  in  an  enemy's  hands,  when  her 
libraries  and  public  offices  are  inaccessible, 
when  her  Government  and  her  Press  is  in 
exile,  when  her  leading  citizens  are  scattered 
over  half  the  countries  of  the  world,  and  when 
the  whole  of  her  internal  activities — industrial, 
administrative,  intellectual — are  either  in  a 
state  of  suspended  animation  or  in  one  of 
diversion  and  abnormality.  In  the  following 
pages  frequent  use  is  made  of  the  present 
tense.  The  reader  is  informed  regarding 
this,  that,  or  the  other  feature  of  Belgian  life 
or  administration,  that  it  "  is."  Let  him 
take  note  here,  once  and  for  all,  that  in  no 
case  is  the  tense  meant  to  indicate  whether 
or  not  a  thing  still  "  is  "  under  war  con- 
ditions. "  Is,"  in  every  case  not  otherwise 
shown,    means    "  was    when    the    European 


INTRODUCTORY  15 

War  broke  out " ;  and  in  most  cases  let  us 
hope  that  it  means  "  will  be  again  when  the 
war  is  over."  To  avoid  endless  tiresome 
circumlocutions  we  are  bound  to  express 
ourselves  thus;  and  if  the  phraseology  of 
convenience  happens  also  to  be  that  of  faith, 
it  is  none  the  worse  on  that  account.  The 
present  writer  does  not  for  a  moment  believe 
that  Belgium  can  be  obliterated.  No  one 
does  who  has  been  connected  with  the 
country  for  any  length  of  time.  If  it  were 
possible  to  destroy  the  people's  nationality 
and  their  determination  to  live  their  own 
life  in  their  own  way,  they  would  have 
been  destroyed  long  ago,  between  1555  and 
1830. 

While  a  bulky  new  study  of  the  country 
could  not  profitably  be  undertaken  in  such 
circumstances,  the  case  seems  different  with 
an  attempt  to  portray  it  in  brief  compass  by 
the  aid  of  existing  materials.  The  moment 
is  favourable  for  this,  not  merely  because 
the  war  has  made  Belgium  conspicuous, 
but  because  whatever  else  it  may  do  for  her, 
it  marks  an  epoch.  In  the  eighty -four  years 
since  she  won  her  independence,  her  progress 
was  continuous.  There  were  developments, 
but  no  break.  The  war  is  such  a  break; 
and  just  as  we  may  care  in  the  life  of  an 


16  BELGIUM 

individual  to  have  portraits  of  him  as  he 
appeared  when  he  left  school,  or  when  he 
married,  or  when  he  entered  Parliament, 
so  there  may  appear  some  special  reasons 
for  attempting  to  place  on  record  the  portrait 
of  a  nation,  as  on  the  eve  of  one  of  the  greatest 
crises  in  its  career  it  appeared  to  a  sympathetic 
observer. 

The  first  chapter  deals  with  the  influence 
of  geography  on  the  character  and  destinies 
of  the  Belgian  people.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  name  any  nation  in  whose  history  this 
has  been  a  more  important  or  more  constant 
factor.  The  second  chapter  describes  some  of 
the  more  general  characteristics  of  the  people 
themselves,  particularly  those  of  race  and 
of  long-inherited  sympathies,  antipathies, 
traditions,  and  ways  of  life.  Thirdly,  the 
reader  must  appreciate  at  least  the  outline 
and  the  main  bearings  of  those  glorious 
epochs  in  the  history  of  the  Low  Countries, 
with  which  every  educated  Belgian  is  familiar, 
and  of  which  he  has  the  right  to  be  proud. 
Fourthly,  we  trace  the  story  of  the  evil 
centuries,  when  Belgium  was  the  '*  cockpit 
of  Europe."  Without  this,  it  is  not  possible 
to  realise  what  a  terrible  necessity  lies  upon 
her  to  maintain  that  neutrality,  which  Dr. 
von    Bethmann-HoUweg    described    on    the 


INTRODUCTORY  17 

outbreak  of  war  as  a  phrase.  For  her, 
neutraUty  and  independence  are  indissolubly 
bound  together.  Once  she  "  gave  a  passage  " 
to  foreign  troops  from  any  side,  her  inde- 
pendence would  be  gone.  Since  she  had 
allowed  her  unique  strategical  position  to 
be  used  by  others  with  impunity,  none  of 
her  neighbours  would  be  content  for  her  to 
remain  the  trustee  of  it;  each  would  be 
compelled  in  self-defence  to  seek  control  of 
it.  She  would  not  only  lose  freedom  in  the 
process,  but  would  sink  back  into  being  a 
"  cockpit  "  for  an  indefinite  future. 

Our  fifth  chapter  deals  with  the  establish- 
ment of  Belgian  independence  in  1830-31-39. 
What  should  be  specially  noticed  here  is 
that  the  Belgian  nation  was  not,  as  is  some- 
times foolishly  said,  an  artificial  creation  of 
the  Powers.  The  Powers  were  indeed  guilty 
of  such  an  artifice;  but  it  was  in  1814-15, 
when  they  created  the  United  Kingdom  of 
the  Netherlands;  and  that  was  the  very 
thing  against  which  the  Belgians  rebelled. 
For  the  formation  of  their  own  national 
State,  nobody  but  themselves  was  responsible. 
It  originated  spontaneously  in  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  is  entitled  to  whatever  respect 
that  origin  merits.  The  action  of  the  Powers 
was  limited  to  putting  a  certain   restraint 


18  BELGIUM 

on  the  efforts  of  their  own  creature,  the 
Dutch  King,  to  regain  his  position,  and  to 
lopping  off  some  pieces  of  self-freed  Belgium 
for  his  consolation  and  appeasement. 

The  later  chapters  give  some  description 
of  the  constitution,  the  party  politics,  the 
social  conditions  and  agencies,  the  art,  and 
the  literature  of  the  modern  kingdom.  The 
principle  adopted  in  the  political  and  social 
chapters  has  necessarily  been  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  only  a  few  of  the  more  important 
issues  and  developments,  with  preference  for 
those  which  seem  either  to  be  most  typical 
of  Belgium  or  to  be  most  intrinsically  worthy 
of  notice  by  an  English-reading  public. 
Only  people  who  suppose  that  Belgium  is 
a  "  little  "  country  and  must  therefore  have 
few  difficulties  and  differences,  will  imagine 
that  this  sort  of  selection  is  easy,  or  can  be 
performed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  selector. 

The  reader  will  find  nothing  on  two  sub- 
jects on  which  he  may  have  expected  in- 
formation. One  is  the  personal  history  of 
the  three  kings.  The  other  is  the  Congo. 
The  omissions  are  intentional.  Our  subject 
is  Belgium;  and  though  the  remarkable 
personalities  of  Leopold  I,  Leopold  II,  and 
Albert  I  have  all  exercised  a  powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  country,  it  has  in  a  sense  been 


INTRODUCTORY  19 

external.  The  reigning  family  is  not,  of 
course,  Belgian  by  origin;  and  the  very 
great  ability  which  its  princes  have  shown 
now  for  three  generations  has  nothing  very 
Belgian  about  it.  Nor  was  there  anything 
Belgian  in  the  vices  and  egotisms  which 
were  so  strangely  assorted  in  Leopold  II's 
character  with  the  highest  qualities  of  fore- 
sight, enterprise,  and  will,  and  which  he 
displayed  on  the  same  colossal  scale  and  with 
the  same  indifference  to  opinion.  In  England, 
at  any  rate,  there  has  been  far  too  common  a 
tendency  to  talk  about  Belgium  as  if  it  were 
an  annexe  to  Leopold  II  and  the  only  im- 
portant event  in  its  history  were  that 
monarch's  acquisition  of  the  Congo.  The 
prominence  of  the  present  King  in  his  country's 
fight  against  aggression  is  another  matter. 
His  greatness  and  the  country's  are  one; 
and  when  it  is  time — which  it  is  not  yet — 
to  write  seriously  the  story  of  the  war  as 
it  affects  Belgium,  his  name  will  lead  all  the 
rest.  It  is  probably  true,  as  a  Socialist 
deputy  is  reported  to  have  said  after  three 
months'  war,  that  if  Belgium  were  made  a 
Republic  to-morrow  and  the  people  had  an 
absolutely  free  choice  of  President,  they 
would  elect  King  Albert  by  a  vast  majority. 
It  would  never  have  been  true  of  Leopold  II 


20  BELGIUM 

throughout  his   long  reign;    and   not  often 
true  of  Leopold  I  before  that. 

Regarding  the  Congo,  this  much  may  be 
said.  The  entire  credit  (and  it  is  much) 
for  acquiring  it  and  taking  the  first  steps  to 
civilise  it  belongs  to  Leopold  II  alone.  So 
does  the  entire  discredit  for  the  abuses  which 
eventually  sprang  up  under  his  sway.  The 
Belgian  nation  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
one  than  with  the  other.  It  was  a  single 
man's  enterprise.  It  was,  of  course,  the 
case  that  King  Leopold's  dual  sovereignty 
put  the  Belgian  nation  into  an  increasingly 
difficult  position.  She  would  have  extricated 
herself  earlier  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
strong  will  of  the  King,  the  weakness  of  the 
then  Premier,  Count  Smet  de  Naeyer,  and, 
one  must  add,  the  extravagances  and  in- 
justices of  the  English  agitation.  Since, 
however,  the  transfer  was  effected  in  1908 
and  the  Congo  Free  State  became  the  Belgian 
Congo  Colony,  steady  progress  has  been  made 
towards  good  government.  The  King  has 
visited  the  colony;  and  the  interest  of  all 
tihe  parties  in  it  has  been  shown  by  the  per- 
sonal tours  of  their  leaders.  The  abolition 
of  forced  labour,  the  improvement  in  the 
pay  and  quality  of  the  officials,  and  the 
opening  of  successive  zones  to  international 


INTRODUCTORY  21 

trade  have  been  among  the  measures  of 
reform.  The  Congo  does  not  yet  have  a  very 
appreciable  effect  on  the  life  of  Belgium  as 
a  whole;  but  her  possession  of  this  great 
heritage  must  not  be  overlooked  in  estimating 
her  future. 


CHAPTER  n 

GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

The  kingdom  of  Belgium  had  a  population 
of  7,423,784  at  the  census  of  1910,  and  an  area 
of  about  11,373  square  miles.  The  area  was 
almost  exactly  equal  to  that  of  the  English 
counties  of  Northumberland,  Cumberland, 
Westmoreland,  Durham,  and  Yorkshire  com- 
bined; but  these  counties  had  only  four- 
fifths  the  population.  The  population  was  not 
far  short  of  that  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania ; 
but  Pennsylvania  covers  nearly  four  times  the 
Belgian  area.  Another  comparison  would  be 
with  the  neighbouring  country  of  Holland, 
whose  area  was  1275  square  miles  (or  11 
per  cent.)  larger,  and  whose  population  was 
1,565,509  (or  21  per  cent.)  smaller. 

It  may  be  noted  that  in  Holland  the  popula- 
tion of  towns  with  over  30,000  inhabitants 
was  much  larger,  both  absolutely  and  relatively 
than  in  Belgium ;  the  fact  being  that  (contrary 
to  a  common  English  belief)  the  Belgians  are 
22 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    23 

a  more  rural  people  than  the  Dutch.  Their 
country  is  one  in  which  modern  travellers  from 
abroad  have  been  apt  to  visit  the  towns  only ; 
and  like  all  countries  with  a  great  deal  of  level, 
it  cannot  be  apprehended  from  the  railway. 
Nevertheless  its  landscapes,  no  less  than  its 
general  geographical  situation  in  relation  to 
Europe,  have  profoundly  influenced  the  char- 
acter and  history  of  its  sons.  In  spite  of 
Belgium's  industrial  prominence,  both  in  the 
Middle  Ages  and  in  the  twentieth  century, 
its  agriculture  is  more  prominent  still;  and 
possibly  the  success  even  of  its  industries  owes 
not  a  little  to  the  unique  degree  in  which 
they  are  carried  on  by  people  with  country 
homes. 

The  land  rises  by  a  succession  of  stages  from 
the  sea  coast  on  the  north-west  to  the  low 
mountains  of  the  Ardennes  on  the  south-east. 
One  may  distinguish  seven  main  strips  of 
it,  roughly  parallel  to  each  other.  '  First  in 
order,  fringing  the  North  Sea,  comes  a  belt 
of  sand-dunes  about  forty  miles  in  length, 
haunted  by  grey  mists  and  swept  by  stormy 
winds.  Long  uninhabited  save  by  hardy 
fisherfolk,  it  has  latterly  developed  a  chain  of 
fashionable  watering-places,  the  chief  of  which 
is  Ostend.  Inland  of  this  lies  the  region  of 
polderSf  a  band  of  reclaimed  territory  at  or 


24  BELGIUM 

below  sea-level,  protected  by  dykes  and 
traversed  by  raised  causeways,  treeless  except 
for  rows  of  poplars  planted  along  these,  but 
yielding  rich  crops  from  a  heavy,  clayey  soil. 
'^Inland  again  we  find  a  wide  expanse  of  sandy 
soil,  extending  from  east  to  west  almost 
continuously  across  Belgium.  The  eastern 
tract  of  this,  covering  the  north-eastern 
portions  of  the  provinces  of  Antwerp  and 
Limburg,  is  called  the  Campine;  it  consists 
of  sterile  heaths  and  wastes,  which  in  recent 
years  have  been  the  object  of  systematic 
reclamation,  and  under  which  still  more 
recently  rich  coal  deposits  have  been  proved. 
^The  western  tract  of  sand  is  the  celebrated 
plain  of  Flanders.  Resuming  our  inland 
progress  with  our  backs  to  the  sea,  we  come 
next  to  more  undulating  scenery.  The  sand 
becomes  loamy;  finally  it  gives  place  to 
loam.  The  hills,  though  low,  shut  in  the 
horizons  nearer;  and  there  are  great  forests, 
principally  of  beech,  most  scientifically  man- 
aged. This  is  the  typical  Brabant  country. 
As  we  proceed,  it  becomi  .  barer ;  we  are  in 
an  area  of  large  farms  without  hedges  and 
almost  without  trees.  The  southern  portion 
of  this  is  a  region  only  second  in  importance  to 
the  Flemish  plain,  the  coal-bearing  district 
which  runs  across  Belgium  on  the  north  side 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    25 

of  the  line  of  the  rivers  Sambre  and  Meuse. 
In  modern  industry  (as  distinct  from  agri- 
cultm'e  and  seaport  trade)  it  leads  the  rest. 
Its  principal  industrial  centres  (taking  them 
from  west  to  east)  are  Mons,  Charleroi,  and 
Liege ;  but  as  we  shall  see,  one  of  its  notable 
features  is  the  diffusion  of  a  dense  manu- 
facturing population  over  a  number  of  small 
towns  and  villages.  Bordering  this  area  and 
providing  water-carriage  for  its  coal  and 
heavy  goods,  flows  the  navigable  stream  of  the 
Sambre,  whose  line  is  continued  from  Namur 
onwards  by  the  deeper  and  broader  waters 
of  the  Meuse,  sweeping  to  Liege  through  a 
magnificent  valley  walled  by  white  limestone 
rocks.  Beyond  the  river-line  another  and 
loftier  zone  stretches  from  west  to  east;  its 
highest  hills  exceed  1000  feet.  Geologically  it 
is  very  varied,  consisting  largely  of  meta- 
morphic  rocks  (marbles,  schists,  and  slates) 
besides  limestones  and  sandstones,  and  con- 
taining numerous  quarries,  as  well  as  mines  of 
iron  ore,  manganese,  and  other  minerals  now 
little  exploited.  This  is  a  picturesque  region 
with  steep  valleys  and  rocky  streams  recalling 
South  Derbyshire;  the  surface  soil  is  clayey, 
the  farms  large,  the  towns  and  villages  smiling. 
Further  again,  still  proceeding  with  our  backs 
to  the  sea,  we  climb  higher  and  reach  a  sterner, 


26  BELGIUM 

lonelier  zone,  the  forest  of  the  Ardennes.  It 
averages  nearly  1400  feet  in  height,  though 
its  tallest  summit  is  only  2204;  its  general 
character  is  a  series  of  lofty  plateaux,  whose 
clayey  surfaces  are  often  waterlogged  marshes 
{hautes  fagnes),  and  whose  slopes  are  clothed 
in  forests.  1^  Beyond  them  we  descend  finally 
to  a  smaller  region,  the  last  of  the  seven  main 
tracts  running  from  west  to  east,  which  must 
be  traversed  by  the  traveller  who  crosses  Bel- 
gium from  the  sea.  It  is  the  limestone  dis- 
trict of  Arlon  sheltered  from  the  north  by 
the  Ardennes,  and  yielding  an  easier  living  to 
a  people  who  alone  in  Belgium  speak,  not 
French  or  Flemish,  but  a  Low-German  dialect 
similar  to  that  in  the  neighbouring  areas  of 
Rhenish  Prussia  and  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Luxemburg. 

Geologically,  the  oldest  rocks  in  Belgium 
are  those  in  the  Ardennes ;  they  are  Devonian, 
with  the  earlier  Cambrian  formations  cropping 
through  in  places.  The  Arlon  district  to  the 
south  of  them  is  Jurassic.  The  districts 
north  of  them  on  either  side  of  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse  are  Carboniferous,  with  a  good  deal 
of  metamorphosis  (limestone  to  marble,  and 
shale  to  slate)  and  some  eruptive  intrusions 
of  granite,  etc.  The  northern  belts  of  these 
Carboniferous    rocks    belong    to    the    coal- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    27 

measures;  an.d  beyond  them  there  is  a 
geological  fault,  which  brings  us  directly  to 
Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  formations.  The 
plain  of  Flanders  is  Eocene,  and  the  Campine 
is  Oligocene. 

So  much  for  an  outline;  we  must  now 
consider  in  more  detail  the  two  most  important 
of  these  natural  divisions — ^the  great  plain  of 
Flanders,  and  the  series  of  coalfields  along  the 
Sambre  and  Meuse.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
first  are  Flemings,  and  speak  Flemish,  a 
language  only  differing  from  Dutch  as  English 
does  from  Scots,  i.e.  they  are  written  the  same 
with  just  such  differences  in  pronunciation 
and  idiom  as  might  entitle  either  to  be  termed 
a  dialect  of  the  other.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
second  are  called  Walloons,  and  are  classed  as 
French-speaking;  though  their  Walloon  dia- 
lect has  considerable  claims  to  be  regarded 
as  a  separate  Romance  language. 

The  Flemish  plain  has  played  a  great  part 
in  the  civilisation  of  Europe.  Down  to  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  by  far 
the  most  important  district  in  the  Low 
Countries;  and  to  this  day,  despite  a  long 
series  of  wars  and  calamities,  it  remains  a 
wonderful  triumph  of  human  industry  over 
nature.  The  sandy  soil  is  excessively  barren. 
Brief    neglect    makes    it    speedily    revert    to 


28  BELGIUM 

desert.  Yet  the  Flemings  have  made  it  one 
of  the  most  populous,  the  most  intensively 
cultivated,  and  the  most  productive  areas  in 
the  entire  world.  To  look  over  this  plain 
across  the  polders  from  the  edge  of  the  sand- 
dunes  is  like  looking  over  some  terrestrial 
sea.  Its  flat  surface  stretches  to  the  horizon, 
there  to  be  lost  in  the  characteristic  blue  haze 
whose  beauty  and  mystery  form  the  back- 
ground of  so  much  of  the  Primitive  Flemish 
painting.  In  front  the  landscape  lies  in  the 
sunshine  like  a  carpet,  diapered  with  countless 
small  cultivated  plots  showing  vivid  contrasts 
of  green  and  colour,  and  dotted  thickly  with 
whitewashed,  red-roofed  cottages.  Planted 
trees  abound,  at  intervals  showing  like  woods, 
though  woods  of  any  size  are  rare  in  this  busy 
area.  Church  spires  point  upward  from  every 
hamlet ;  and  at  close  intervals  lie  the  historic 
cities.  Some  of  these,  with  tall,  mediaeval 
buildings  rising  over  ancient  squares,  are  but 
the  ghosts  of  their  famous  selves.  The  old 
city  walls  are  usually  gone,  their  site  often 
marked  by  modern  boulevards;  but  the 
town  halls  and  guildhalls  and  merchants' 
houses  remain,  and  the  belfry  (to  have  which 
was  for  a  mediaeval  town  the  greatest  of 
chartered  privileges,  the  very  starting-point 
of  collective  independence)    still  rises  in  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    29 

midst,  chiming  the  hours  and  quarters  over 
quiet,  pigeon-haunted  streets  that  once  surged 
to  the  sound  of  its  tocsin.  Such  a  city  is 
Bruges;  such  were  Ypres  and  Termonde  and 
MaUnes  before  the  European  War.  Dead  as 
they  were,  these  cities  had  a  Hving  influence 
over  modern  Belgium,  which  owes  a  great 
debt  to  them  for  its  sense  of  beauty,  its  civic 
tradition,  above  all  for  the  self-confidence 
which  is  the  parent  of  effort.  In  other  cases 
the  modern  revival  has  been  effected  upon  the 
ancient  sites;  and  the  noble  legacies  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance  are  caught 
up  and  jostled  in  the  hurrying  stream  of 
modem  progress.  Such  are  Ghent  and  Ant- 
werp ;  such  elsewhere  in  Belgium  are  Brussels 
and  Li^ge. 

The  coal-and-iron  district  along  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse  has  not  the  same  prestige  in  history 
as  the  Flemish  plain.  Its  fortified  towns, 
commanding  one  of  the  best  military  routes 
between  France  and  Holland  or  Westphalia, 
have  long  been  among  the  most  important 
strategic  points  in  Europe,  the  objects  of 
numerous  and  famous  sieges.  Some  of  them 
also,  especially  Mons  and  Li^ge,  have  a 
tradition  of  industrial  craftsmanship  re- 
markably ancient  and  continuous.  But  until 
the  nineteenth  century  the  population  and 


30  BELGIUM 

resources  of  the  district  were  not  comparable 
to  those  of  Flanders  and  South  Brabant.     It  is 
the  modern  importance  of    coal  which  has, 
brought  it  to  the  fore.  ^^^ 

ks>  far  back  as  the  later  Middle  Agts;Tiiege 
and  Mons  were  noted  for  their  metalworkers 
and  armourers,  the  local  iron  and  other 
metallic  ores  being  smelted  by  the  aid  of 
charcoal  from  the  Ardennes  forests,  then 
more  extensive  than  now.  In  the  nineteenth 
century  these  industries  were  continued  and 
expanded  on  a  coal -using  basis;  and  others, 
e.g.  glass-making,  were  added  to  them.  The 
coalfield  falls  into  three  sections;  the  most 
westerly,  of  which  Mons  is  the  centre,  is  called 
the  Borinage ;  the  next,  lying  round  Charleroi, 
is  called  the  Centre;  the  third  is  the  coalfield 
of  Li^ge.  The  population  of  all  three  (not 
merely  the  miners,  but  the  ironworkers  and 
other  artisans)  is  unusually  diffused.  The 
largest  city,  Liege,  has  less  than  200,000 
inhabitants,  and  the  great  majority  of  the 
workers  live  in  small  towns  and  large  villages 
which  form  a  close  network  over  the  district. 
This  is  perhaps  most  noticeable  round  Charle- 
roi, whose  municipal  area  in  1912  only  con- 
tained 29,452  dwellers,  but  whose  immediate 
neighbourhood  includes  populations  which,  if 
massed  in  one  town,  would  form  the  largest 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  COUNTRY    81 

industrial  town  in  Belgium.  Collieries  and 
ironworks  do  not  beautify  a  landscape;  and 
parts  of  the  district  (especially  round  Charleroi) 
are  a  sort  of  Black  Country.  On  the  whole, 
however,  it  is  less  unsightly  than  most  areas 
given  up  to  similar  trades,  partly  owing  to  the 
picturesque  lie  of  the  land  (including  the  fine 
river),  partly  to  old  and  beautiful  architecture, 
partly  to  the  decided  talent  which  the  Belgians 
have  for  spacing  and  laying  out  buildings. 
All  these  elements  are  particularly  to  the  fore 
in  and  round  the  city  of  Li6ge,  certainly  one 
of  the  most  artistic  of  modern  Europe's 
manufacturing  centres.  West  of  Li6ge,  indus- 
try follows  the  valley  of  the  Vesdre,  a  tributary 
stream  with  its  source  in  Germany ;  and  here 
the  important  textile  town  of  Verviers  (popula- 
tion in  1912,  45,964)  deserves  notice  on 
account  of  its  remoteness  from  the  other 
textile  centres  of  the  country. 

Politically  Belgium  is  divided  into  nine 
provinces.  This  division,  based  on  history, 
corresponds  only  roughly  to  the  physical 
divisions  of  the  country  which  we  have  just 
described.  The  provinces  of  West  Flanders 
(capital  Bruges)  and  East  Flandets  (capital 
Ghent)  include  the  belt  of  sand-dunes,  the 
strip  of  polders,  and  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Flemish  plain.     The  latter  is  continued  west 

0 


32  BELGIUM 

into  the  province  of  Antwerp  (capital  Ant- 
werp), where  it  passes  into  the  barren  heaths 
and  pine  forests  of  the  Campine.  South  of 
the  Antwerp  province  hes  that  of  Brabant 
(strictly  South  Brabant;  North  Brabant 
being  now  a  province  of  Holland),  containing 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  Brussels,  and 
belonging  mainly  to  the  central  region  of 
sandy  loam,  rolling  hills,  large  farms,  and 
beech  forest.  The  eastern  extension  of  this 
region  forms  the  dairying  district  of  the 
thinly  populated  province  of  Limburg  (capital 
Hasselt),  the  north  and  east  of  which  is 
covered  by  the  Campine.  The  three  provinces 
traversed  by  the  line  of  the  Sambre  and 
Meuse  are  Hainaut  (capital  Mons),  Namur 
(capital  Namur),  and  Liege  (capital  Li6ge). 
Hainaut  contains  the  coalfields  of  the  Borin- 
age  and  the  Centre,  and  Li^ge  that  of  Li6ge. 
Each  of  these  provinces  has  a  share  in  the 
calcareous  and  quarrying  region  beyond  the 
river  line,  but  the  share  of  Hainaut  is  small, 
and  that  of  Namur  much  the  largest.  Namur 
even  includes  a  part  of  the  Ardennes;  but 
the  bulk  of  that  mountainous  forest  area,  and 
the  whole  of  the  sheltered  limestone  region 
which  lies  beyond  it,  are  comprised  in  the 
ninth  and  last  province,  that  of  Belgian 
Luxemburg     (capital     Arlon).      These     nine 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  COUNTRY    33 

provinces  are  important  administrative  units 
in  the  government  of  modern  Belgium;  but 
they  have  not,  like  the  departments  of 
modern  France,  been  artificially  created  for 
the  purpose.  Coeval  with  our  English 
counties,  they  have  even  more  hold  on  the 
popular  imagination  and  tradition,  owing  to 
the  very  late  development  of  any  national 
central  government  welding  and  transcending 
them. 

A  very  important  factor  in  the  internal 
geography  of  Belgium  is  that  of  its  water- 
ways. The  total  length  of  these  is  about 
1300  miles.  The  Flemish  and  the  Walloon 
countries  have  each  a  principal  river  with  a 
principal  tributary — the  Schelde  and  the  Lys 
in  the  one  case,  the  Meuse  and  the  Sambre  in 
the  other.  All  four  streams  rise  in  France, 
and  both  the  main  rivers  have  to  flow  through 
Holland  before  they  reach  the  sea.  The 
Schelde  has  other  navigable  tributaries — ^the 
Ruppel  and  its  feeders  the  Dyle,  Senne, 
Dcmer,  and  Nethe,  which  drain  Brabant  and 
West  Limburg,  and  also,  draining  East 
Flanders,  the  Dender  and  the  Durme.  The 
Meuse  receives  at  Li6ge  a  navigable  tributary, 
the  Ourthe,  from  the  south.  In  West  Flanders 
Belgium's  only  other  main  river  runs  into  the 
sea  at  Nieuport,   the  little  Yser,   which   is 


84  BELGIUM 

navigable  for  twenty-six  miles,  and  has  a 
nine-mile  navigable  tributary,  the  Yperlee. 
In  addition  to  these  the  Flemish  plain  has 
from  early  times  been  intersected  by  canals, 
which  the  sandy  subsoil  and  insignificant 
changes  of  level  made  it  easy  to  excavate  and 
construct.  In  the  last  eighty  years  this  net- 
work has  been  considerably  improved  and 
extended,  the  most  important  new  work  being 
the  ship  canal  from  Zeebrugge  to  Bruges, 
intended  to  restore  the  latter  city  eventually 
to  its  ancient  position  as  a  great  world  port. 
That  position  was  lost,  and  the  city  de- 
throned from  its  greatness,  by  the  silting  up 
in  1490  of  what  had  been  its  river,  the  Zwyn. 
It  is  perhaps  surprising  that  the  Flemings 
of  the  Renaissance,  who  were  then  at  the  very 
top  of  the  world's  industrial  achievement, 
contemplated  the  coming  of  this  calamity  for 
years,  yet  could  devise  no  means  of  averting 
it;  but  political  considerations  (especially 
the  jealousy  of  Ghent)  prevented  several 
projects  from  fructifying. 

The  watershed  of  the  Schelde  forms  over 
49  per  cent,  of  the  Belgian  area,  and  that  of 
the  Meuse  over  42  per  cent.  We  have 
noticed  that  both  these  rivers  pass  to  the  sea 
through  Holland.  Since  the  Dutch  became 
a  separate  nation  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  COUNTRY    85 

century,  this  circumstance  has  operated  very 
conspicuously  to  Belgium's  disadvantage.  It 
first  came  about  during  the  war  between  Spain 
and  the  revolted  Netherlands.  The  Spanish, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Prince  of  Parma, 
captured  Antwerp,  the  great  port  on  the 
Schelde,  but  they  were  unable  to  conquer 
Zeeland  and  what  had  been  the  Flemish  strip 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Schelde  estuary ;  and, 
moreover,  the  Dutch  wrested  from  them  the 
command  of  the  sea.  The  result  was  that 
Antwerp,  which  in  1560  had  been  by  far  the 
greatest  port  in  the  world,  languished  from 
1585  to  1794  in  a  helpless  bondage,  the  Dutch 
deliberately  preventing  all  sea  access  to  it  in 
order  to  divert  the  trade  to  Rotterdam  and 
Amsterdam.  This  "  closing  of  the  Schelde," 
which  founded  the  greatness  of  the  Dutch 
ports,  was  first  stopped  by  the  armies  of  the 
French  Revolution ;  and  the  Schelde  remained 
*'  open "  after  1815,  because  Belgium  was 
then  united  to  Holland.  But  after  the  seces- 
sion of  Belgium  in  1831,  the  Dutch  revived 
their  claim,  and  they  persuaded  the  Great 
Powers  to  confirm  it  in  a  modified  form  by 
the  Treaty  of  1839.  They  were  no  longer  to 
close  the  Schelde  absolutely,  but  they  were 
authorised  to  exact  a  prohibitive  toll.  This 
system    was    continued,    to    the    injury    of 


86  BELGIUM 

Belgium  and  crippling  of  Antwerp,  until 
1863,  when  the  Belgian  Government  com- 
bined with  those  Powers  whose  ships  used 
the  Schelde  to  buy  out  the  Dutch  toll-rights 
for  a  capital  sum.  The  procedure  followed 
was  a  copy  of  that  adopted  in  1856  to  buy  out 
the  Danish  toll-rights  over  the  Sound,  and  in 
1861  to  buy  out  the  Hanoverian  toll-rights 
over  the  river  Elbe.  The  credit  of  getting 
it  applied  to  the  Schelde's  case  belongs  to  the 
late  Baron  Lambermont,  who  therein  showed 
himself  a  notable  benefactor  of  his  country. 
The  freeing  of  the  Schelde  caused  the  com- 
mercial greatness  of  Antwerp  to  revive 
rapidly.  In  1912  it  had  312,884  inhabitants, 
and  had  become  the  rival  of  Rotterdam  and 
Hamburg.  But  as  a  fortress  (and  there  was 
a  very  important  r61e  assigned  to  it  as  a 
fortress — that  of  providing  a  last  refuge  on 
Belgian  soil  for  the  (Government  of  an  in- 
vaded Belgium)  it  was,  and  still  is,  gravely 
weakened  by  the  Dutch  ownership  of  the 
Schelde  estuary.  The  waters  of  this  estuary, 
flowing  between  Dutch  banks  on  either  side, 
are  themselves  in  law  part  of  the  actual 
territory  of  Holland.  Antwerp  therefore  can 
be  neither  attacked  nor  relieved  from  the  sea 
without  a  violation  of  Dutch  neutrality ;  and 
it  was  this  fact  which  in  1914  compelled  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    87 

Belgian  Army  and  Government  to  evacuate 
it. 

The  grievance  regarding  the  Meuse  is 
purely  commercial ;  but  it  is  not  insignificant. 
This  fine  river  is  the  waterway  for  the  coal- 
and-iron  district  of  Belgium;  and  being 
canalised  by  the  Belgians  down  to  Vis^, 
where  it  leaves  their  territory,  is  navigated 
by  inland  steamers.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
navigated  to  the  sea,  because  the  Dutch, 
though  they  navigate  it  from  the  mouth  up 
to  Venlo,  refuse  to  canalise  the  remaining 
strip  from  Venlo  to  Vise.  There  are  no  rapids 
or  other  great  obstacles  to  prevent  this  work 
being  done ;  and  if  it  were  done,  Li6ge  would 
become  a  great  seaport,  shipping  its  heavy 
export  manufactures  (guns,  locomotives,  and 
motor-cars)  direct.  But  that  is  precisely 
what  the  Dutch,  with  their  inveterate  com- 
mercial jealousy  of  the  Belgian  seaports,  do 
not  appear  to  desire. 

What  may  be  termed  the  "  external  geo- 
graphy "  of  Belgium  (that  is,  its  situation  in 
regard  to  the  other  countries  of  the  world), 
has  more  than  any  other  factor  shaped  its 
destiny.  It  is  for  trade  purposes  the  natural 
meeting-ground  of  the  West  European  nations ; 
unfortunately  it  has  for  the  same  reasons  been 
again  and  again  their  battle-ground.  QLying 


88  BELGIUM 

between  England,  France,  Germany,  and 
Holland,  it  has  good  water  communications 
with  each. ^Though  not  quite  so  near  the 
English  coast  as  a  corner  of  France  is,  it  has 
the  great  advantage  of  exactly  fronting  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames.  With  France  it  is 
connected  by  the  upper  courses  of  the  Lys, 
Schelde,  Sambre,  and  Meuse,  the  last  named 
being  navigable  for  barge  traffic  right  away 
up  into  Lorraine.  With  Germany  its  con- 
nection is  less  direct ;  the  outlet  of  the  Rhine, 
of  course,  is  through  Holland,  and  not  through 
Belgium  at  all ;  but  there  are  canal  communi- 
cations with  Westphalia,  and  the  proximity 
of  the  Lower  Rhine  towns  has  always  been  an 
influence  in  Belgian  life.  The  inhabitants  of 
this  middle  land,  between  some  of  the  principal 
French  and  German  districts  and  London, 
were  in  the  Mediaeval  and  Renaissance  periods 
enabled  to  make  the  very  most  of  their 
situation  through  the  excellence  of  their  in- 
ternal waterways  and  the  sheltered  positions 
of  their  ports.  In  the  days  of  piracy  a  harbour 
on  the  coast  itself  was  not  the  best  place  for 
trade.  Towns  like  the  Cinque  Ports  in  Kent, 
or  Calais  and  Dunkirk  on  the  Franco-Flemish 
seaboard,  were  of  naval  and  military  im- 
portance rather  than  commercial.  Even 
Antwerp  was  for  many  centuries  little  but  a 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  COUNTRY    39 

fortress  guarding  the  head  of  the  Schelde 
estuary,  the  chief  port  of  the  river  being  far 
higher  up,  at  Ghent,  where  the  Lys  joins  it. 
When  the  obsolescence  of  piracy  and  the 
deeper  draught  of  vessels  modified  these 
conditions,  Antwerp  was  there,  ready  to 
benefit  by  the  change.  In  the  last  eighty 
years  Belgium  has  been  similarly  helped  by 
its  railway  system,  thanks  to  the  commercial 
foresight  of  its  first  king.  Fares  and  freights 
on  the  Belgian  State  Railways  are  the  lawest 
in  Europe;  and  they  are  so  well  linked  up 
that  for  many  years  Brussels  has  enjoyed 
express  communication  with  Paris,  Frankfort, 
Vienna,  Berlin,  and  Holland,  as  well  as  with 
Italy  via  Bale,  and  with  London  via  Ostend 
and  Dover.  The  country  has  thus  come  to 
form  at  the  heart  of  the  most  industrial  and 
commercial  region  of  the  Old  World  a  centre 
and  meeting-point  not  only  for  trade  and 
finance,  but  for  art,  for  literature,  for  ideas, 
in  a  word,  for  civilisation ;  and  stimulated  by 
constant  contact  with  foreign  example,  its 
own  effort  both  in  manufacture,  in  agriculture, 
and  in  the  finer  arts  of  life  has  been  able  to 
reach  a  high  level. 


CHAPTER  III 

GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE 
PEOPLE 

As  might,  be  expected  from  their  geo- 
graphical position,  the  racial  origins  of  the 
Belgian  people  are  extremely  mixed;  and 
this  is  reflected  in  their  physical  appearance. 
Pure  ethnic  types  are  rare.  Nevertheless 
there  are  two,  which  may  be  easily  dis- 
tinguished above  the  rest  as  contributing  the 
main  elements  to  the  various  hybrid  varieties. 
One  is  the  blonde,  long-skulled  type  of  North 
Germany,  which  is  on  the  whole  the  dominant 
type  in  Holland.  The  other  is  the  short, 
dark,  short-skulled  type  of  South  Germany 
and  Eastern  France.  If  for  brevity  we  call 
these  by  the  conventional  (though  unsatis- 
factory) names  "  Teutonic  "  and  "  Alpine," 
we  may  say  that  throughout  Walloon  Belgium 
the  Alpine  type  dominates,  often  in  compara- 
tive purity;  and  the  same  type  counts  for  a 
great  deal  in  the  Flemish  provinces,  though 
40 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  41 

here  it  is  much  overlaid  by  the  Teutonic. 
The  latter  is  only  dominant  in  the  sand-dune 
belt  and  parts  of  the  polder  region ;  and  even 
there  is  seldom  seen  at  all  pure.  The  paint- 
ings of  the  early  Flemish  and  Brabant  masters 
show  the  Alpine  type  to  have  been  dominant 
in  the  great  Belgian  cities  as  early  as  the 
Burgundian  epoch. 

While  it  has  often  been  loosely  said  that 
the  English  and  the  Belgians  are  physically 
much  alike,  this  is  only  true  of  individuals. 
It  may  be,  for  instance,  that  a  bargee  from 
the  Medway  and  a  bargee  from  Ostend  are 
indistinguishable.  But  in  the  first  place  both 
are  likely  to  be  dominated  by  a  common 
Teutonic  type,  which  is  not  dominant  in  either 
country  taken  as  a  whole ;  and  in  the  second 
place  the  population  of  Kent  (as  that  of 
several  other  English  counties)  was  very 
appreciably  affected  by  the  enormous  immi- 
gration of  Flemish  Protestant  refugees  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Apart  from  such  immi- 
grations the  Alpine  type,  usually  dominant 
in  Belgium,  is  scarcely  found  in  the  British 
Isles,  being  replaced  by  varieties  of  the  so- 
called  Iberian  type ;  which,  though  also  short 
and  dark,  is  long  skulled.  Consequently  most 
Belgians  appear  to  a  British  eye  rather  notice- 
ably broad  in  the  head  and  flat  in  the  face, 

Bfl 


42  BELGIIBI 

with  a  marked  fullness  at  the  temples ;  while 
British  faces  by  contrast  seem  narrow  and 
projecting,  with  hollow  temples  and  deeper- 
set  eyes.  The  dominance  of  the  Alpine  type 
in  Belgiun>  gives  the  nation  a  very  low  average 
stature  (in  this  they  are  veritably  petits 
Beiges);  and  the  types  mainly  responsible 
for  the  tallest  men  and  women  in  the  British 
Isles — the  Scandinavian  immigrants  of  the 
Viking  period,  and  the  blonde,  rather  short- 
skulled,  red-haired  type  so  conspicuous  in 
some  of  our  "  Celtic  "  regions — hardly  occur 
along  the  Schelde  and  the  Meuse,  But 
though  short,  the  ordinary  Belgian  work- 
man is  broad  and  extremely  muscular;  and 
he  has  had  for  centuries,  whether  Fleming  or 
Walloon,  whether  in  agriculture  or  industry, 
^a  reputation  for  hard  work  and  stamina 
second  to  none  in  Europe.") 

Attempts  to  disentangle  component  racial 
types  must  not  lead  us  to  forget  that  the 
Belgian  nation  in  all  its  provinces  is  essen- 
tially an  outcome  of  hybridisation  and  selec- 
tion; and  has  developed,  like  other  notable 
hybrid  nations,  distinctive  stocks  of  its  own 
of  special  value.  The  people  who  built  up 
the  great  civilisations  of  Flanders  and  Brabant 
in  the  Middle  Ages  were  not  an  ordinary 
breed;    they  evinced  abilities  and  character 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  48 

of  a  very  exceptional  kind.  From  1555  to 
1815  the  conditions  which  historic  fortune 
imposed  on  their  existence  were  such  as 
would  have  stamped  a  weaker  folk  out;  and 
they  were  wholly  precluded  from  any  sort  of 
national  brilliance.  But  when  the  yoke  was 
at  last  lifted  off  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
their  old  qualities  speedily  blossomed  afresh. 
Only  a  people  with  a  strong  and  individual 
heritage  of  ability  passing  from  ancestors  to 
descendants  could  have  renewed  across  such 
an  interval  the  features  of  its  former  glory. 

Most  of  this  heritage  was  fixed  early  in 
history.  Conquest  and  immigration  have 
added  subsequent  outside  elements  to  the 
original  (say,  before  the  year  1000)  inter- 
change and  consolidation  of  types;  though 
fewer  than  is  often  supposed.  Some  of  the 
attempts  to  trace  them  appear  decidedly 
fanciful ;  e.  g,  the  common  suggestion  that  a 
peculiar  and  elegant  carriage  to  be  noticed 
sometimes  among  the  women  is  "  Andalu- 
sian  "  and  shows  descent  from  the  occupying 
Spaniards  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  The  feature  in  question  seems  far 
more  naturally  explained  by  the  peasant 
women's  habit  of  carrying  burdens  on  their 
heads;  for  the  definite  and  measurable  char- 
acteristics of  the  Iberian  type  appear  to  be 


44  BELGIUM 

rare  in  Belgium;  and  in  point  of  fact  most 
of  the  occupying  *'  Spanish "  troops  were 
Walloons.  In  quite  recent  times  the  foreigners 
resident  in  Belgium  have  become  rather 
numerous  in  proportion  to  population.  The 
census  of  1910  showed  254,547  of  them, 
including  80,765  French,  57,010  Germans, 
70,950  Dutch,  and  only  6974  EngHsh.  There 
was  a  considerable  colony  of  Russian  Jews 
at  Antwerp;  but  elsewhere  the  Jewish  ele- 
ments in  Belgium  are  numerically  small. 
The  tendency  since  the  development  of  rail- 
ways has  been  for  Belgians  of  every  district 
to  form  connections  with  those  of  every 
other  district,  and  to  consolidate  a  common 
national  type.  But  the  growth  of  the  in- 
digenous population,  though  rapid,  has  not 
prevented  a  parallel  tendency  for  foreigners 
to  be  drawn  in.  It  is  largely  a  matter  of 
industrial  and  commercial  specialisation;  for 
Belgium,  while  importing  some  kinds  of 
foreign  labour,  exports  other  kinds  of  her 
own.  At  various  seasons  of  the  year  tens  of 
thousands  of  her  sons  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  working  temporarily  in  neighbouring  coun- 
tries, particularly  in  France  at  the  sugar-beet 
harvest. 

In  loose  parlance  the  Flemings  and  Walloons 
are  often  spoken  of  as  the  two  *'  races  "  of 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  45 

Belgium ;  but  the  dividing  line  between  them 
is  not  ethnical.  It  is  primarily  linguistic ;  and 
there  are  also  some  differences  of  temper  and 
tradition,  specialised  by  historical  segrega- 
tion. The  Walloons  are  a  people  inhabiting 
country  for  the  most  part  semi-mountainous 
and  by  nature  picturesque.  Man  has  not 
composed  its  beauties,  though  he  has  latterly 
often  disfigured  them  by  slag-heaps;  and  its 
wealth  in  old  days  was  rather  that  of  forest, 
pastures,  and  quarries  than  that  of  tilled  land. 
The  ancestors  of  its  present  population  be- 
longed largely  to  what  are  called  backward 
classes — foresters,  hunters,  charcoal-burners, 
shepherds,  mountain  crofters,  and  similar 
hardy  dwellers  on  the  outskirts  of  civilisation. 
Many  were  soldiers  of  fortune;  for  during 
two  centuries  it  was  the  recruiting  ground  of 
the  best  mercenaries  in  Europe.  Its  chief 
traditional  industries  were  quarrying,  smiths* 
work,  and  the  manufacture  of  arms;  and 
upon  these  coal-mining,  steel-smelting,  and 
engineering  have  been  grafted  in  modem 
times.  In  direct  contrast,  the  Flemings  are 
the  natives  of  a  featureless  plain,  on  which 
the  unremitting  human  labour  of  eleven  cen- 
turies has  visibly  conferred  every  element  of 
beauty  or  wealth  that  it  possesses.  By  the 
patient  tillage  to  which  every  spare  acre  is 


46  BELGIUM 

subjected,  the  barren  Flemish  sand  was 
taught  to  yield  two  crops,  where  more 
favoured  regions  yield  only  one;  by  patient 
laying  of  brick  upon  brick,  the  belfries  of 
town  halls  and  the  spires  of  cathedrals  were 
raised  to  heaven  to  afford  the  points  of  out- 
look and  rallying  which  no  natural  elevations 
afforded.  The  same  patient  spirit  reared  the 
skilled  fortifications  which  provided  defences 
in  the  naturally  defenceless  plain;  built  up 
behind  them  for  the  first  time  in  history  a 
manufacturing  wealth  based  on  foreign  trade 
at  both  ends — alike  on  the  import  of  raw 
materials  and  on  the  export  of  finished  goods ; 
and,  by  the  slow,  stubborn  accumulation  of 
charters  and  precedents  wrung  from  reluctant 
feudal  lords,  established  for  their  burghers 
the  privileged  right  to  live  their  lives  in  their 
own  way.  The  Fleming  is  the  heir  to  the 
oldest  and  most  sorely  tried  of  modern 
civilisations,  except  the  Italian;  there  is 
bred  in  his  bone  a  conservative  tenacity,  a 
rooted  instinct  of  loyalty  to  the  religion  and 
traditions  of  the  past,  a  plodding,  pondering 
habit  of  mind,  and  the  sedulous  detailed  in- 
dustry of  the  intensive  cultivator  and  the 
handicraftsman.  The  Walloon  on  the  other 
hand  represents  a  hastier  and  perhaps  bolder 
(certainly    more    martial)    type,    which    has 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  47 

passed  by  a  leap  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  rung  of  the  modern  industrial  ladder ; 
he  lives  without  rest  in  a  world  of  innovation, 
in  which  he  has  accomplished  great  things, 
but  is  in  travail  for  the  accomplishment  of 
greater;  he  js  a  revolutionary,  a  trans- 
former, at  best  a  creator.  In  art  the  deepest 
characteristics  of  the  Flemings  have  never 
been  more  faithfully  expressed  than  by  the 
fifteenth-century  Flemish  painters — with  their 
contemplative  and  mystical  inspiration,  their 
close  observance  of  prescription  and  ritual, 
their  patient  and  masterly  drawing,  their  solid 
and  sumptuous  colour,  and  the  meticulous 
detail  which  renders  every  hair  on  a  flesh 
surface  and  cannot  be  fully  appreciated  with- 
out a  magnifying  lens.  The  Walloons  niight, 
for  contrast,  be  illustrated  by  their  great 
modern  sculptor,  Constantin  Meunier;  the 
unity  and  life  of  whose  mightiest  conceptions 
seem  as  if  they  were  projected  into  the  bronze 
or  stone  by  a  single  effort  of  the  demiurgic 
mind. 

These  differences  reflect  themselves  in 
politics.  The  Walloons  tend  to  be  Liberals 
or  Socialists,  and  strongly  anti-clerical ;  while 
the  Flemish-speaking  population  supplies  most 
of  the  voters  for  the  Catholic  party,  which  has 
been    in    power   in   the   Belgian    Parliament 


48  BELGIUM 

without  interruption  since  1884.  Such  a 
coincidence  between  a  Unguistic  division  and 
the  divisions  of  party  and  creed  is,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  not  fortunate;  and  it  has  led  in 
recent  years  to  a  regrettable  sharpening  of 
the  language  conflict.  This  conflict  was  first 
shaped  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
by  the  movement  of  the  flamingants,  or 
Flemishisers.  The  original  motive  of  flamin- 
gantisme  was  defence.  Its  leaders  found  the 
old  Flemish  tongue  in  a  position  of  inferiority 
and  in  danger  of  dying  out  of  all  but  working- 
class  use.  The  average  French-speaking  Bel- 
gian was  not  unwilling  that  it  should.  French 
had  been  the  language  of  the  upper  classes  in 
Flanders  since  the  Middle  Ages;  and  as  a 
widely  known  European  language,  possessing 
a  great  literature  and  also  great  commercial 
utility,  it  had  some  obvious  advantages  over 
a  particularist  speech,  which  outside  North 
Belgium  could  only  be  understood  in  Holland 
and  was  there  regarded  as  bad  Dutch.  Against 
this  the  flamingants  insisted  that  a  people's 
maternal  language  is  a  part  of  its  very  soul, 
to  be  neglected  or  lost  at  its  peril,  and  that 
Flemish  was  the  maternal  language  of  more 
than  half  Belgium.  Encouraged  by  the  blos- 
soming of  a  decidedly  remarkable  Flemish 
literature,  they  claimed  the  full  equality  of 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  49 

the  languages  for  official  and  educational 
uses;  and  this,  if  a  foreigner  may  venture  a 
controversial  opinion,  they  seem  in  substance 
to  have  gained.  But  within  the  twentieth 
century  they  developed  a  new  discontent  with 
their  position.  In  part,  perhaps,  this  was  due 
to  the  growing  evidence  that  Flemish  needed 
much  more  than  a  fair  field  and  no  favour  if 
it  was  to  overcome  its  natural  handicaps  in 
the  race  with  French.  But  in  part  it  was 
certainly  a  by-product  of  the  anti-French 
feeling  revived  in  Catholic  Flanders  by  the 
victories  of  anti-clericalism  in  France  and 
the  separation  of  Church  and  State  there. 
Dislike  of  the  French  is  a  very  old  Flemish 
instinct.  In  nearly  all  the  wars  in  Flanders, 
from  the  battle  of  Cassel  in  1071  to  that 
of  Waterloo  in  1815,  the  French  were  the 
invaders ;  and  in  the  centuries  of  conflict  be- 
tween the  Flemish  city  communes  and  feudal- 
ism, French  armies  were  always  the  mainstay 
of  the  latter.  The  later  flamingant  move- 
ment rekindled  these  memories,  took  on  a 
decidedly  aggressive  aspect,  and  developed 
what  had  been  a  language  question  into  a 
conflict  of  religious,  political,  and  even  inter- 
national importance. 

How  far  German  influences  were  respon- 
sible for  fannnig  flamingantisme  to  excess  it 


50  BELGIUM 

is  impossible  to  say.  The  leading  flamingants 
were  not  conscious  Germaniscrs.  But  Ger- 
man sympathy  with  the  extension  of  Flemish 
and  diminution  of  French  was  natural;  and 
the  German  Government  must  have  departed 
from  its  usual  practice  if  it  did  not  employ 
agents  to  foster  such  a  process.  At  all  events 
the  later  extravagances,  if  we  may  use  the 
word,  ot  the  flammgant  agitation  appear  to  have 
coincided  in  date  with  the  growth  of  definite 
German  designs  against  Belgian  independence. 
Foreign  observers  have  perhaps  been  prone 
to  overrate  the  seriousness  of  the  schism 
between  Flemings  and  Walloons.  In  the 
first  place  the  two  populations  are  very  evenly 
matched  in  number,  and  neither  has  much 
chance  of  absorbing  the  other.  The  Flemish- 
speaking  population  in  1910  was  3,229,314, 
the  French-speaking  2,908,327,  and  the 
bilingual  923,835.  These  figures  are  not  be- 
yond challenge,  and  that  for  bilinguals  is 
probably  much  too  low.  A  man  will  com- 
monly return  himself  French-speaking  or 
Flemish -speaking,  according  to  the  language 
in  which  he  was  brought  up,  even  though  for 
business  purposes  he  has  a  working  knowledge 
of  the  other.  But  the  distinction  between 
maternal  languages  remains,  and  its  boun- 
daries do  not  greatly  alter.     Secondly,  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  51 

two  languages  have  each  their  geographical 
spheres  of  influence;  it  is  not  a  question  of 
a  ruling  race  and  a  subject  race  jostling 
each  other  in  fierce  competition  all  over  a 
disputed  country.  Thirdly,  with  all  their 
differences  the  Flemings  and  Walloons  are 
conscious  of  a  common  destiny.  They  have 
lived  together  under  a  single  government  for 
nearly  five  centuries  (excepting  the  people 
of  Li^ge,  who,  however,  are  particularly 
"  Belgian  "  in  sentiment) ;  and  they  much 
prefer  each  other's  partnership  in  independ- 
ence to  a  dependent  association  with  any- 
body else.  The  French-speaking  Walloons 
have  no  desire  to  be  annexed  by  France ;  and 
the  Flemings,  though  their  language  is  quasi - 
identical  with  Dutch,  are  extremely  averse 
to  being  absorbed  in  the  Dutch  people.  The 
German  invasion  of  1914-1915,  uniting  all 
Belgians  without  distinction  of  race  or  party 
in  a  common  national  feeling  against  the 
ruthless  aggressor,  may  very  possibly  leave 
behind  it  a  spirit  of  greater  tolerance  and 
mutual  accommodation  between  the  cham- 
pions of  the  two  languages;  when  what  is 
not  on  its  intrinsic  merits  a  really  difficult 
problem  may  perhaps  receive  a  settlement 
agreeable  to  all. 
The  divergence  between  the  Flemings  and 


52  BELGIUM 

the  Dutch  deserves  careful  notice.  Before 
the  disastrous  reign  of  its  first  Spanish  ruler, 
Philip  II  (1555-1598),  Flanders  was  a  very 
much  more  important  country  than  Holland, 
and  its  cities  altogether  larger  and  richer. 
The  result  of  the  struggles  against  Philip  II 
was  that  Holland  obtained  its  independence 
and  was  carried  by  the  impetus  of  its  emanci- 
pation into  the  position  of  a  Great  Power; 
while  Belgium,  devastated  and  depopulated 
by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  remained  under  the 
Spanish  dominion,  and  was  prevented  from 
recovering  its  economic  prosperity  by  the 
action  of  the  Dutch  in  closing  the  Schelde. 
The  commercial  jealousy,  which  for  several 
centuries  impelled  the  Dutch  thus  deliber- 
ately to  keep  Belgium  poor,  was  not  calculated 
to  endear  them  to  their  victims;  and  the 
incidents  of  the  brief  period  (1815-1830) 
when  the  Dutch  and  Belgian  peoples  were 
united  under  the  Dutch  Crown  only  deepened 
the  antipathy.  It  rests,  however,  not  only 
on  accidents  of  history,  but  on  strong  con- 
trasts of  habit  and  taste.  We  have  already 
compared  the  relation  of  the  Dutch  and  Flem- 
ish languages  to  that  between  Scots  and 
English;  and  the  parallel  might  be  pursued 
further  in  the  comparison  of  their  national 
characters.    The  Dutch,  like  the  Scots,  are 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  53 

Calvinists ;  the  Flemings  clung  to  Catholicism, 
as  the  English  did  to  Prelacy.  The  tradi- 
tional Dutchman  (the  type  has  no  doubt  been 
blurred  by  modernity)  is  something  of  a 
Puritan,  affecting  black  clothes  and  bare  un- 
ornamented  interiors ;  the  Fleming  is  a  great 
lover  of  feasting  and  joviality,  of  sensuous 
colours  and  sumptuous  fabrics  and  florid 
magnificence  in  architecture.  The  Flemish 
delight  in  pomp  and  ritual,  and  the  Flemish 
mysticism,  are  alien  to  the  Dutch,  who  are 
at  once  less  gross  and  less  spiritual.  Dutch 
life  strikes  a  Fleming  as  drab  and  austere; 
Flemish  life  strikes  a  Dutchman  as  untidy 
and  lax  and  superstitious.  Naturally  a  hard 
people,  the  Dutch  have  become,  perhaps, 
over-engrossed  in  trading  gains;  their  cities 
live  by  buying  and  selling  the  work  of  other 
men's  hands,  which  seldom  does  more  than 
pass  through  their  own.  Flanders  has  less  of 
the  purely  mercantile  and  more  of  the  in- 
dustrial temperament;  she  is  more  con- 
structive, less  skinflint,  more  idealist.  The 
contrast  may  be  worked  out  even  to  the 
national  beverages.  The  Dutch,  like  the 
Scots,  are  spirit  drinkers;  it  was  they  who 
invented  gin.  The  Flemings,  like  the  Eng- 
lish, drink  beer.  Flemish  ales  have  been 
famous    since   the   thirteenth    century,    and 


54  BELGIUM 

were  the  first  to  obtain  a  considerable  reputa- 
tion outside  their  own  borders.  It  is  true 
that  gin  drinking  has  latterly  made  a  singu- 
larly maleficent  progress  in  Belgium  among 
the  working  classes;  but  the  ravages  of  this 
fiery  spirit,  which  have  come  to  be  regarded 
by  thoughtful  Belgians  as  one  of  the  chief 
dangers  to  their  national  physique  and  char- 
acter, are  the  more  marked  precisely  because 
the  population  have  no  hereditary  familiarity 
with  it.  —  -  - 

All  such  differences  could  have  been 
bridged,  and  the  Dutch  and  Flemings  united, 
as  the  English  and  Scots  were,  had  the  course 
of  history  favoured  it.  In  that  case  the 
Belgian  and  Dutch  Netherlands,  consolidated 
as  a  single  state,  would  have  formed  a  Great 
Power,  whose  territory  none  of  its  neighbours 
could  violate  lightly.  This  was  the  concep- 
tion of  the  Burgundian  Dukes;  the  con- 
ception of  William  the  Silent;  and,  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  conception  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  who  was  the  main  author  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  United  Netherlands  set 
up  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna.  The  circum- 
stances under  which  that  last  experiment 
broke  up  render  it  unlikely  that  it  will  ever 
be  repeated.  Even  the  fine  National  Anthem 
of  modern  Belgium,  the  "  Braban9onne,"  is 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  55 

an  expression  of  anti-Dutch  feeling,  and  a 
perpetual  reminder  of  the  wrongs  suffered  by 
Belgium  from  the  Dutch  ruling  house.  No- 
thing but  the  flood  of  some  very  destructive 
and  transforming  revolution,  which  would 
have  to  sweep  over  the  two  countries  at  the 
same  time,  can  be  conceived  as  capable  of 
submerging  such  solidly  established  barriers. 

An  important  factor  in  the  temperament 
of  any  people  at  a  given  time  is  the  rate  of 
growth  of  the  population.  Where  this  is 
slow,  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  can  with 
little  effort  maintain  their  traditional  stan- 
dards of  comfort;  where  it  stagnates  or  de- 
clines, effort  is  apt  to  stagnate  or  decline  also. 
Where  on  the  other  hand  population  increases 
rapidly,  there  results  almost  inevitably  a 
spirit  of  uneasiness  and  hustle,  seeking  new 
outlets  for  energy  and  new  reapportionments 
of  wealth.  In  such  a  ferment  it  is  that  the 
great  movements  of  social  or  imperial  or 
religious  idealism  tend  to  be  born.  Belgium 
since  1830  has  nearly  always  shown  a  rapid 
growth  of  population.  In  the  thirty  years 
between  the  censuses  of  1880  and  1910  the 
increase  was  over  84  per  cent.  In  the 
United  Kingdom  the  corresponding  census 
period  (1881-1911)  shows  an  increase  of  28 
per  cent. ;  in  France  (1881-1911)  it  was  5  per 


56  BELGIUM 

cent.;  in  the  German  Empire  (1880-1910)  it 
was  43  per  cent.  Belgium,  therefore,  though 
much  behind  the  phenomenal  growth  of 
Germany,  was  well  ahead  of  its  two  great 
western  neighbours;  and  in  estimating  the 
effect  of  such  growth  we  must  not  forget 
that  it  is  the  most  thickly  populated  state  in 
Europe,  and,  save  in  the  Campine,  has  very 
few  empty  spaces  to  fill  up.  The  increase 
does  not  result  from  a  high  birth-rate;  for 
though  births  in  Catholic  Flanders  are  well 
maintained,  in  the  Walloon  provinces  they 
are  sinking  under  French  influences  towards 
the  French  level.  It  is  due  to  the  combina- 
tion of  a  moderate  birth-rate  (practically  the 
same  as  the  English)  with  a  low  death-rate 
and  an  almost  complete  absence  of  permanent 
emigration. 

Personal  habits  play  an  important  and 
often  underestimated  part  in  the  life  of  a 
nation,  especially  those  traditional  habits  of 
housewifery,  cooking,  clothing,  etc.,  which 
among  the  less  sophisticated  masses  trans- 
mit from  generation  to  generation  the  pain- 
fully accumulated  hoard  of  race-experience, 
and  if  lost  are  so  difficult  to  replace  by  any 
formal  instruction  or  book  learning.  Belgium 
suffered  incalculably,  and  had  all  its  stan- 
dards of  life  lowered  by  its  miseries  during 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  57 

the  long  period  when  it  was  the  "  cockpit  of 
Europe."  But  it  has  never  in  modern  times 
undergone  such  a  violent  breach  in  the  con- 
tinuity of  its  popular  habits  as  was  inflicted 
on  Great  Britain  by  the  abruptness  and  un- 
foreseenness  of  her  Industrial  Revolution,  on 
France  (to  a  less  extent)  by  her  Political 
Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  Wars,  and  on 
nations  like  latter-day  America  by  the  whole- 
sale immixture  of  foreign  populations  from  a 
dozen  different  national  soils.  The  Belgians 
have,  for  instance,  what  the  English  have 
not,  a  skilled  system  of  popular  cookery  tradi- 
tional throughout  the  nation,  diffused  up- 
wards from  the  immemorial  experience  of  the 
peasantry.  For  the  palate  of  the  inter- 
national epicure  it  is  not  to  be  mentioned  with 
the  handiwork  of  French  or  Italian  chefs ; 
but  as  providing  all  the  poorer  classes  with  a 
popular  dietary  suited  to  the  climate,  nutri- 
tious, digestible,  mainly  home-grown,  and  re- 
markably cheap,  it  is  a  real  asset  for  national 
efficiency.  So  with  clothing ;  from  his  cheap, 
warm,  dry  wooden  shoes  (the  ordinary  French 
sabots)  upwards,  the  Belgian  workman  wears 
what  is  inexpensive  but  practical  and  suit- 
able to  his  occupation,  instead  of  (as  so  largely 
English  and  American  workmen  do)  what  is 
dear  and  unsuitable;    and  moreover  his  wife 


58  BELGIUM 

knows  how  to  mend  and  dam  and  use  pieces. 
Of  course  the  modern  tendency,  whereby  the 
clerk  tries  to  dress  hke  a  rich  man,  and  the 
workman  like  a  clerk,  and  the  great  majority 
of  people  to  spend  an  ever-growing  part  of 
their  income  on  clothing  necessarily  bad  of 
its  kind  and  undesigned  for  their  needs,  does 
not  leave  Belgium  entirely  untouched;  but 
it  encounters  there  a  resistance  from  the  better 
tradition,  which  it  does  not  encounter  in 
countries  whose  traditions  have  been  lost. 
One  has  only  to  compare  the  get-up  of,  let 
us  say,  a  porter  in  the  great  Brussels  markets 
with  that  of  a  similar  porter  in  a  London  or 
Manchester  market,  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
Belgian's  advantage  in  this  respect:  an  ad- 
vantage the  more  worthy  of  note  because 
the  actual  money  takings  of  the  English 
porter  would  be  considerably  higher, 
^he  experience  which  lies  behind  Belgian 
habits  is  mainly  that  of  rural  life,  which 
(though  there  are  many  systems  of  farming, 
according  to  the  varieties  of  soil  and  practice 
in  the  various  districts,  and  small  holdings 
are  by  no  means  a  uniform  or  universal 
feature)  may  be  broadly  termed  peasant  life. 
In  some  areas,  especially  among  the  small 
cultivators  of  East  and  West  Flanders,  this 
life  goes  with  a  narrow  range  of  ideas  and  an 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  59 

extreme  conservatism  in  religion  and  polities. 
But  even  there  the  peasantry  are  not  un- 
progressive  all  round;  they  are  constantly 
adopting  the  newest  agricultural  methods 
suited  to  their  particular  farming^  There  are, 
too,  many  features  which  the  English  observer 
must  beware  of  condemning  simply  because 
they  are  unfamiliar,  or  because  in  the  different 
conditions  of  his  own  country  they  would 
entail  different  consequences.  Such  a  feature 
is  the  field  work  of  women.  It  must  by  no 
means  be  regarded  as  a  mere  symptom  of 
poverty  or  sex-oppression.  A  Belgian  peasant 
who  works  for  himself  and  whose  wife  and 
daughters  work  with  him  out-of-doors  at  the 
heaviest  tasks  may  be  richer  in  money  (as 
well  as  far  better  housed,  better  fed,  and  better 
clothed)  than  the  English  labourer  who  works 
for  a  farmer  at  twelve  or  fifteen  shillings  a 
week,  and  whose  indoor  anaemic  wife,  with 
her  diet  of  tea  and  white  bread  and  patent 
medicines,  would  be  ashamed  to  be  seen 
engaged  in  any  but  the  lightest  of  open-air 
work.  Nor  can  the  Belgian  peasant  women 
with  their  vigorous  self-assertion,  powerful 
physique,  and  capable  housewifery  be  re- 
garded as  more  downtrodden  than  their 
sisters  in  English  villages.  The  traditional 
peasant  existence  has  its  animal,  and  even 


60  BELGIUM 

brutal  aspects;  but  it  provides  better  than 
its  British  counterparts  for  the  physical 
vigour  of  both  sexes,  a  vigour  which  cannot 
but  tell  for  the  survival  and  success  of  the 
people  as  a  whole. 

Town  life  in  Belgium  has  also  a  long  history 
and  tradition  behind  it.  Of  its  political 
characteristics  we  will  speak  elsewhere.  Here 
we  will  notice  how  much  less  sharp  than  in 
England  is  the  breach  between  country  and 
town  habits.  Owing  to  the  constriction  of 
the  largest  Belgian  towns  by  fortifications, 
the  urban  working  class  has  not  escaped  the 
great  evil  of  lofty  tenement  buildings,  from 
which  the  English  cities  almost  alone  in 
Europe  are  relatively  free  But  the  policy 
long  pursued  by  the  Government  on  the  State 
Railways  has  been  remarkably  effective  in 
preventing  Belgian  urban  life  from  being 
swamped  by  the  townward  rush  of  modernity. 
There  is  no  land  in  the  world  where  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  workers  in  the  towns  have 
their  homes  in  the  country.  Consequently 
both  the  size  and  the  rate  of  growth  of  the 
great  cities  have  remained  manageable.  It 
is  impossible  to  find,  as  in  England,  square 
miles  of  smoky,  mean  streets,  where  scarcely 
anything  green  lives  and  Nature  means  no- 
thing to  the  children.     Town  planning  has 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  61 

not  been  developed  to  German  lengths;  but 
very  effective  work  has  been  done,  especially 
at  the  capital ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  deny 
some  great  aesthetic  merits  to  the  modern  as 
well  as  the  ancient  portions  of  the  Belgian 
cities.  Nor  do  the  working  class,  transplanted 
from  peasant  life  to  urban,  part  with  their 
practical  domestic  traditions.  A  good  in- 
stance is  the  "  Flemish  stove,"  an  urban 
contrivance  now  common  in  the  country  also, 
which  corresponds  in  the  working-class  kitchen 
living-room  to  the  miniature  cooking-range 
which  a  similar  room  in  England  usually  has 
built  into  its  wall.  In  proportion  to  the  fuel 
consumed,such  a  stove  yields  very  considerably 
more  heat  both  for  cooking  and  for  warming 
the  room  than  the  range  built  into  the  wall 
does,  while  its  easier  accessibility  for  cooking 
saves  the  housewife  a  great  deal  of  labour. 
Moreover,  it  is  practically  smokeless,  and 
contributes  powerfully  to  the  almost  complete 
freedom  of  the  Belgian  towns  from  domestic 
smoke. 

Although  the  factors  which  we  have  just 
described  have  enabled  the  Belgian  working 
classes  to  live  considerably  better  on  their  low 
wages  than  English  workmen  could  do,  it 
remains  unfortunately  the  case  that  these 
are  the  lowest  in  West  Europe,  and  far  too 


62  BELGIUM 

low,  in  many  instances,  for  any  efficient  or 
worthy  life  to  be  lived.  This  is  true  both  of 
industry  and  agriculture,  and  is  the  darkest 
feature  of  the  country's  material  development. 
If  one  wished  to  see  the  Belgian  peasant  and 
domestic  tradition  at  its  worst,  one  would 
perhaps  do  so  in  the  case  of  sweated  home 
industries.  The  habits  of  the  peasant  house- 
hold lead  into  these  by  a  natural  transition. 
They  are  numerous  in  Belgium;  and  there, 
as  elsewhere,  the  weight  of  the  direst  poverty 
and  exploitation  hangs  over  them.  Nothing 
in  the  whole  country  is  more  squalid  and  de- 
graded than  the  conditions  of  certain  moderate- 
sized  and  obscure  towns,  chiefly  in  Flanders, 
which  are  given  up  to  such  industries  and  are 
practically  unrelieved  slums,  islanded  in  the 
country-side,  from  whose  squeezed-out  or 
deluded  workers  they  recruit  their  victims. 

It  is  curious  that  with  all  the  heritage  of 
civilised  tradition,  on  which  we  have  just  laid 
stress,  the  Belgians  are  conspicuously  lacking 
on  one  side,  in  which  tradition  might  have 
been  expected  to  tell.  Their  warmest  foreign 
sympathisers  can  hardly  claim  for  them  with 
candour  that  as  a  people  they  have  attractive 
manners.  No  doubt  their  old  nobility  is  as 
cultivated  as  any  other;  and  the  contact 
with  public  duties  and  responsibilities,  which 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  63 

under  a  constitutional  monarchy  it  has  been 
able  to  preserve,  distinguishes  it  rather 
favourably  from  the  French,  just  as  its  lack  of 
unpopular  privileges  distinguishes  it  from  the 
English.  The  intellectual  and  higher  pro- 
fessional class  have  also  a  cosmopolitan 
polish.  But  it  is  not  by  such  thin  upper  strata 
that  one  samples  a  nation's  manners;  one 
must  judge  by  its  masses — its  labourers  and 
peasants,  its  farmers  and  shopkeepers,  its 
tram  conductors  and  railway  porters  and 
policemen.  Tested  in  this  way,  there  are 
some  European  peoples — the  Italians  and  the 
Irish,  for  instance,  and  on  the  whole  the  French 
— who  seem  endowed  with  a  natural  friendli- 
ness and  unstudied  courtesy.  There  are  others 
— for  example,  the  Scots  of  the  east  coast  and 
the  Scandinavians,  and  on  the  whole  the 
Dutch — who  make  up  for  a  lack  of  affability 
by  that  simplicity,  sincerity,  and  restraint 
of  impulse  which  is  another  aspect  of  good 
breeding.  The  Belgians  scarcely  rank  high 
in  either  category.  They  are  rather  a  mulish, 
lumpish  people,  slow  to  help  the  stranger, 
suspicious,  surly,  disobliging,  exacting,  and 
ungrateful.  No  doubt  these  qualities  (some 
of  which  a  good  many  foreigners  will  observe 
in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  no  less  than  in 
Flanders  and  Brabant)  go  along  with,  and  are 


64  BELGIUM 

perhaps  inherent  in  a  valuable  doggedness 
and  strength  of  will.  The  peoples  with  most 
personal  grace  and  charm  are  not  always 
those  that  achieve  the  most  solid  performances, 
and  the  Belgians  can  safely  take  their  stand 
on  the  latter  before  the  bar  of  history. 
Nevertheless  their  disagreeable  features  have 
delayed  the  recognition  of  their  merits,  and 
made  possible  the  blindness  of  that  army  of 
tourists  who  have  roamed  the  Belgian  towns 
and  admired  their  ancient  monuments  without 
in  the  least  realising  that  the  living  men 
around  them  were  genuine  descendants  of 
their  authors,  and  had  in  their  day  and 
generation  toiled  not  less  honourably  along 
the  higher  paths  of  human  endeavour. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   HISTORIC   GLORIES   OF   BELGIUM 

The  Belgium  with  which  we  are  concerned 
came  into  being  for  the  first  time  as  a  distinct 
independent  state  in  1830.  But  that  is  very 
far  from  being  the  first  page  in  its  history. 
Its  nine  provinces  had  in  1815  been  assigned 
by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  to  the  new  Dutch 
monarchy,  which  the  Congress  created;  and 
during  the  years  1815-1830  had  formed  part 
of  a  United  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands. 
Previous  to  that  they  had  from  1795  belonged 
first  to  Revolutionary  and  then  to  Napoleonic 
France.  During  the  whole  of  these  thirty- 
five  years  preceding  their  independence  they 
had,  though  subject,  been  strengthening  their 
sense  of  a  common  nationality. 

For  eight  of  the  nine  provinces  this  sense 
had  long  existed.  The  ninth  was  Li^ge,  which 
till  1795  was  an  ecclesiastical  state  by  itself, 
the  domain  for  nine  centuries  of  a  line  of 
bishops  who  were  princes  of  the  Holy  Roman 
c  65 


66  BELGIUM 

Empire.  The  other  provinces  had  always 
been  under  the  rule  of  a  common  sovereign 
since  they  were  first  united  under  the  Dukes 
of  Burgundy  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  They  passed  from  the  House  of 
Burgundy  to  the  House  of  Austria  in  1482; 
and  on  the  abdication  of  the  great  Emperor 
Charles  V  in  1555,  they  passed  together  with 
what  is  now  Holland  to  the  rule  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy.  The  revolt  against  Spain,  which 
broke  out  thirteen  years  later,  ended  in  the 
establishment  of  Holland  as  an  independent 
state.  The  eight  provinces  which  we  are 
considering  (together  with  some  territories 
since  annexed  by  France  and  Holland)  were 
those  left  in  Spanish  hands;  and  they  thus 
for  the  first  time  formed  a  political  entity  by 
themselves,  being  known  in  contradistinction 
to  Holland  as  the  "  Spanish  Netherlands." 
In  1713  they  passed  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
to  Austria;  and  until  annexed  by  France  in 
1795,  were  known  as  the  "  Austrian  Nether- 
lands." 

It  was  during  this  last  period  that  the  term 
*'  Belgians  "  first  began  to  be  popularly  applied 
to  the  people;  though  it  had  been  used  in 
Latin  documents  to  describe  the  people  of  th ) 
Low  Countries  as  far  back  as  the  Middle  Ages. 
Its  origin,  of  course,  is  the  name  "  Belgae,'* 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    67 

given  by  the  Romans  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  in  Caesar's  time.  Its  modern  use, 
both  in  Latin  documents  and  in  the  stilted 
French  and  EngUsh  poetic  language  of  the 
period  1650-1750,  was  to  signify  the  Dutch 
scarcely  less  than  the  Belgians.  As  a  dis- 
tinctive term  for  the  people,  excluding  the 
Dutch,  the  French  noun  "  Beiges  "  had  be- 
come general  by  the  time  of  the  Brabant 
Revolution  (1789),  but  its  adjectival  form  was 
then  "  Belgique." 

Thus  we  see  that  (leaving  on  one  side  the 
case  of  Li^ge)  the  Belgian  provinces  have 
(1)  been  under  a  common  sovereign  since 
before  the  time  of  the  English  Wars  of  the 
Roses;  (2)  formed  a  territory  distinct  from 
the  neighbouring  territories  since  the  time 
of  the  Armada.  Let  us  add  that  before  the 
disastrous  period  of  Spanish  rule  they  had 
never  since  Frankish  times  been  subject  in 
the  modern  sense  to  foreigners.  The  Dukes 
of  Burgundy,  who  first  united  them,  were  not 
conquering  invaders,  but  the  heirs  of  indi- 
genous families,  who  gradually  brought  into 
their  single  family  the  dukedoms  and  count- 
ships  of  the  various  provinces.  The  greatest 
of  them,  Philip  the  Good,  made  Bruges  and 
Ghent  his  principal  capitals*  Nor  did  the 
Habsburgs  at  first  rule  as  foreigners.    The 


68  BELGIUM 

Emperor  Charles  V,  whose  dominions  included 
Austria,  Spain,  and  the  Americas,  besides  the 
Low  Countries,  was  always  most  at  home  in 
these  last.  He  was  born  at  Ghent,  and  he 
chose  Brussels  as  the  scene  of  his  abdication 
ceremony.  Belgium  supplied  him  with  the 
bulk  of  his  wealth,  and  also  with  some  of  his 
best  soldiers.  The  first  ruler  who  treated 
the  people  of  the  Low  Countries  as  the  sub- 
ordinate subjects  of  a  foreign  power  was 
Philip  II  of  Spain.  But  from  the  time  of 
his  accession  they  were  never  really  treated 
otherwise  till  1830. 

The  name  and  fame  of  the  Belgian  provinces 
goes  back  far  earlier  than  their  union  under 
Philip  the  Good.  The  Carlovingian  founders 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  were  natives  of 
the  province  of  Li6ge.  Pepin,  the  first  Mayor 
of  the  Palace,  was  born  there  at  Landen,  and 
his  grandson,  the  father  of  Charles  Martel, 
at  Herstal  (where  in  recent  times  has  stood 
one  of  the  principal  Li^ge  forts).  The  empire 
consoUdated  by  Charles  Martel  and  Charle- 
magne, essentially  a  union  of  France  and 
West  Germany,  found  its  natural  centre  in 
South  Belgium  and  the  adjoining  district  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle.  When  this  broke  up  and 
was  divided  in  three  by  Charlemagne's  grand- 
sons, Flanders,  though  its  speech  was  Germanic, 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    C9 

went  with  the  Western  third  (the  prototype 
of  modern  France) ;  while  the  rest  of  Belgium, 
though  Latin-speaking,  went  with  the  middle 
third,  called  Lotharingia  (Lorraine),  which 
included  the  whole  of  the  country  between  the 
rivers  Rhine,  Moselle,  Meuse,  and  Schelde. 
In  the  two  stormy  centuries  which  followed 
this  break-up,  were  established  the  great 
feudal  positions  of  the  Count  of  Flanders, 
the  Count  of  Hainaut,  the  Duke  of  Brabant, 
and  the  Marquis  of  Antwerp.  The  Duchy  of 
Limburg,  the  Countdom  of  Luxemburg,  and 
the  Countdom  of  Namur  were  carved  out  of 
the  original  Duchy  of  Brabant,  but  are  early 
and  famous  nevertheless.  These  feudal  di- 
visions, with  some  clipping  of  their  outer 
frontiers,  but  little  change  where  they  adjoin 
each  other,  form  (with  the  addition  of  the 
Prince-Bishopric  of  Li6ge)  the  Belgian  pro- 
vinces of  to-day.  The  Bishop  of  Li^ge  became 
a  great  temporal  potentate  in  the  tenth 
century,  and  a  prince  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh. 

The  feudal  framework  of  Duchies,  Count- 
doms,  and  Prince-Bishopric,  has  had  a  deep 
historic  influence  on  the  Belgian  people.  To 
the  present  day  all  the  principal  provinces 
have  a  character  and  tradition  of  their  own, 
matched  and  enhanced  by  a  much  more  dis- 


70  BELGIUM 

tinctive  counterpart  in  written  history  than 
is  the  case  even  with  the  English  counties. 
The  chivalry  of  the  Low  Countries  (and  until 
the  rising  against  Spain  at  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century  "  the  Low  Countries " 
chiefly  meant  Belgium,  Holland  being  re- 
latively quite  unimportant)  was  among  the 
most  splendid  in  Europe;  and  it  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  principal  military 
enterprises  of  the  Middle  Ages,  e.  g.  the 
Crusades  and  the  battles  of  the  Hundred 
Years  War.  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  a  Walloon, 
Marquis  of  Antwerp,  was  the  first  knight  to 
scale  the  walls  of  Rome,  when  the  Emperor 
Henry  IV  warred  against  Pope  Gregory  VII; 
he  was  also,  together  with  Robert,  Count  of 
Flanders,  the  foremost  military  leader  in  the 
First  Crusade,  and  became  the  first  King 
of  Jerusalem.  Counts  of  Flanders  were  pro- 
minent in  several  subsequent  Crusades,  the 
most  notable  being  Baldwin  IX  (who  was  also 
Count  of  Hainaut),  who  led  the  Fifth  Crusade, 
captured  and  sacked  Constantinople,  and  was 
in  1204  crowned  in  St.  Sophia  as  Emperor  of 
the  East.  The  Belgian  dynasties  at  Jerusalem 
and  Constantinople  undoubtedly  widened  the 
trade  connections  of  Flanders;  in  particular 
the  relations  established  with  Venice  in  the 
course  of  the  Fifth  Crusade  must  have  helped 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    71 

to  show  the  Flemings  the  pathways  to  com- 
mercial wealth,  along  which  they  were  shortly 
to  outdistance  Venice  herself.  It  is  from  the 
time  of  that  Crusade  that  the  rapid  expansion 
of  the  great  cities  of  Flanders  and  Brabant 
dates.  The  effect  of  all  the  Crusades  was  to 
occupy  and  kill  off  the  feudal  nobles  and  their 
military  caste,  and  so  leave  the  urban  middle 
classes  freer  for  development.  Moreover,  they 
caused  the  nobility  to  need  money  on  quite  a 
new  scale;  and  this  they  obtained  from  the 
towns  in  return  for  charters  and  concessions. 
The  history  of  the  Belgian  cities  is  the  most 
brilliant  part  of  Belgian  history  before  1880. 
It  is  inseparable  from  the  chief  special  con- 
tributions, which  the  country  has  made  to 
the  civilisation  of  Europe;  and  save  for  the 
parallel  development  of  the  Italian  cities, 
and  the  much  weaker  and  less  forward  growth 
of  the  German  free  towns,  it  is  unique.  Its 
distinctive  features  began  to  be  first  visible 
in  Flanders.  That  region  (as  we  showed  in  the 
second  chapter)  is  by  nature  sterile;  and  its 
chief  assets  in  the  Dark  Ages  were  its  ports, 
its  waterways,  and  the  fact  that  it  lay  just 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  After  its 
Count  Baldwin  I,  called  Iron-Arm,  had  re- 
pelled the  Northmen  towards  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century,  his  son  Baldwin  II  (son-iii- 


72  BELGIUM 

law  of  our  Alfred  the  Great)  fortified  the  four 
cities  of  Bruges,  Ghent,  Courtrai,  and  Ypres, 
which  ever  since  have  been  the  most  famous 
places  in  Flanders  proper.  Thereafter,  the 
Flemings  began  to  concentrate  their  attention 
on  shipping,  cloth  manufacture,  and  trade 
with  England.  The  cloth  markets  appear  to 
have  been  established  in  the  chief  towns  about 
the  year  960.  England,  which  very  early  was 
(as  it  still  is)  the  principal  sheep-growing 
country  in  Europe,  supplied  the  raw  wool. 
At  the  same  time  Flanders  itself  grew  (as  it 
still  does)  a  great  deal  of  flax  for  linen;  in 
treating  which  the  water  of  the  river  Lys  has 
always  had  a  peculiar  efficacy.  In  1066  the 
then  Count  of  Flanders,  Baldwin  V,  who  was 
father-in-law  to  William  the  Conqueror,  took 
a  very  active  part  in  the  conquest  of  England. 
Flemish  ships  conveyed  a  large  proportion 
of  the  invaders  to  Pevensey ;  Flemish  knights 
won  by  their  swords  some  of  the  principal 
English  fiefs  in  the  Conqueror's  disposal ;  and 
for  many  centuries  Flemish  clerks  and  officials 
came  to  play  a  regular,  if  often  unpopular, 
part  in  most  English  administrations.  Leaders 
of  popular  risings  in  England  seem  to  have 
been  as  anxious  to  "  kill  all  the  Flemings  " 
as  to  "  kill  all  the  lawyers."  Thus  in  the 
fourteenth  century  Chaucer  tells  us  in  his 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM     73 

Nun  PriesVs  Tale  of  the  shouting  of  "  Jacke 
Strawe  and  his  meynee,  whan  that  they  wolden 
any  Fleming  kille.^* 

Baldwin  V's  son,  Baldwin  VI,  married 
Richilde,  the  heiress  of  Hainaut,  thus  effect- 
ing an  important  union  of  provinces;  and  it 
was  he  who  in  1068  conferred  on  the  town 
of  Grammont  the  first  of  the  Flemish  town 
charters.  His  widow,  Richilde,  subsequently 
oppressed  the  Flemish  cities  with  the  aid  of 
the  French  king,  still  her  feudal  superior; 
but  Ypres,  Courtrai,  and  Tournai  rose  against 
her,  and  under  the  command  of  her  husband's 
brother,  Robert  of  Flanders,  heavily  defeated 
her  in  the  two  days'  battle  of  Cassel  Hill 
(1071),  though  she  had  the  full  military  sup- 
port of  the  King  of  France.  This  famous 
battle,  in  which  for  the  first  time  in  mediaeval 
Europe  a  great  feudal  army  of  knights  and 
men-at-arms  was  beaten  by  burgher  levies, 
raised  the  prestige  of  the  Flemish  cities  to  a 
new  point ;  and  it  was  then  that  the  Crusades 
supervened,  as  we  have  seen,  to  enrich  them 
and  to  weaken  their  feudal  over-lords. 

From  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries 
the  story  of  the  Belgian  towns  is  one  of  civic 
life,  wealth,  and  industry,  struggling  to  main- 
tain itself  against  a  military  environment. 
The  brunt  of  the  struggle  fell  upon  Flanders. 
ca 


74  BELGIUM 

The  chief  cities  of  Brabant,  Louvafn  and 
Brussels,  were  on  a  smaller  scale ;  they  owed 
more  to  their  feudal  rulers,  the  very  en- 
lightened dynasty  of  the  Dukes  of  Brabant, 
and  contented  themselves  more  easily  with 
being  those  rulers'  capitals.  The  cities  of 
Walloon  Belgium  were  prevented  from  rival- 
ling Flanders  by  their  remoteness  from  the 
sea ;  and  though  those  of  Hainaut  were  often 
involved  in  the  same  conflicts  as  the  Flemish 
through  the  inter-marriage  of  the  dynasties 
of  the  two  Countdoms,  those  of  Liege  revolved 
in  an  orbit  of  their  own  under  the  Prince- 
Bishops,  and  enjoyed  from  the  eleventh  to  the 
fifteenth  centuries  an  unusual  measure  of  peace 
and  order,  thanks  to  the  celebrated  '*  tribunal 
of  peace  "  established  by  the  Bishops  in  Li^ge 
Cathedral.  But  whereas  the  rest  of  Belgium 
was  part  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  Flanders 
was  still  a  fief  of  France.  Indeed,  when  the 
great  French  King,  Philip  Augustus,  began 
to  consolidate  the  French  monarchy  at  the 
opening  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Count 
of  Flanders  was  the  most  formidable  vassal 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  Philip  Augustus's 
efforts  to  destroy  Flemish  independence  were 
the  first  of  a  long  series  made  by  the  French 
kings,  efforts  in  direct  conflict  with  the  rising 
spirit  and   power  of  the   Flemish  burghers. 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    75 

The  struggle  was  apt  to  be  fought  out  as 
between  rival  claimants  to  the  Countdom, 
one  claimant  being  supported  by  the  French 
king  in  consideration  of  his  advancing  French 
sovereignty,  the  other  by  the  burghers  of  the 
towns  in  consideration  of  his  extending  their 
town  privileges.  From  an  early  stage  the 
Flemish  patriots  sought  English  alliances 
against  France.  The  first  was  with  our  King 
John  against  Philip  Augustus,  and  it  came 
to  a  disastrous  end  at  the  battle  of  Bouvines 
(1214) — one  of  the  most  decisive  battles  in 
history,  since  it  may  be  said  in  France  to  have 
founded  the  unity  of  the  French  nation,  and 
in  England  to  have  directly  brought  about  the 
concession  of  Magna  Charta.  It  threw  Flanders 
under  French  sovereignty  for  nearly  a  century ; 
though  in  that  period  civil  war  and  French 
invasions  occurred  more  than  once.  But  in 
1296  the  then  Count  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  Flemish  popular  party,  and  definitely 
threw  off  the  French  yoke,  contracting  an 
alliance  (the  League  of  Grammont)  with 
Edward  I  of  England,  the  Emperor,  and  the 
Duke  of  Brabant.  Again  the  French  were 
victorious ;  the  Count's  great  allies  were 
bought  off  by  the  French  King,  Philip  the 
Fair;  and  by  1300  Flanders  was  completely 
subdued.     In  1301,  the  bulk  of  the  Flemish 


re  BELGIUM 

nobles  and  knights  (excepting  the  "  LeHaerts,'* 
or  French  faction)  being  in  prison,  Philip  the 
Fair  visited  Bruges  and  Ghent  as  a  conqueror, 
imposed  alteration  on  their  civic  constitutions, 
and  returned,  leaving  an  oppressive  French 
Lieutenant-General  behind  him.  But  the  proud 
and  turbulent  artisans  of  the  rich  Flemish  cities 
were  in  no  mind  to  be  trampled  on  like  the 
French  serfs.  A  remarkable  insurrection  broke 
out  at  Bruges  under  Pieter  de  Conine,  a 
weaver,  and  Jan  Breydel,  a  butcher.  At  first 
the  French  made  headway  against  it;  but 
then  Conine  and  Breydel  re-entered  Bruges, 
and  in  the  celebrated  "  Mattins  of  Bruges  " 
(May  1302)  the  entire  French  garrison  was 
cut  to  pieces  by  the  infuriated  artisans. 
Philip  the  Fair's  reply  was  to  dispatch  within 
two  months  a  magnificent  army,  including 
all  the  finest  chivalry  of  France,  against  the 
insurgents.  The  patriot  burghers  could  only 
meet  this  menace  with  an  army  half  its  size, 
nearly  destitute  of  cavalry,  and  composed 
principally  of  artisans  armed  with  pikes.  But 
the  battle  of  Courtrai,  which  followed,  proved 
the  Bannockburn  of  Flanders.  There  have 
been  few  more  memorable  victories  of  patri- 
otic weakness  over  aggressive  strength.  The 
humble  pikemen  defended  themselves  with 
desperation  against  the  charges  of  the  French 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    77 

knights,  and  at  last  threw  them  into  disorder 
against  a  marshy  stream,  where  they  butchered 
them  without  quarter.  The  battle  is  called 
that  of  the  Golden  Spurs,  because  of  the 
enormous  number  of  gold  spurs  collected  after 
it  from  the  feet  of  slain  French  nobles.  It  has 
ever  since  been  one  of  the  greatest  patriotic 
memories  of  Flemish  Belgium;  and  as  such 
was  recalled  by  King  Albert  in  August  1914,  in 
his  proclamation  to  his  people  on  the  German 
invasion. 

Flanders  was  thus  saved  at  the  critical 
moment  from  annexation  by  the  French 
monarchy,  and  was  saved  by  the  artisans, 
not  the  nobles.  So  opened  the  fourteenth 
century.  In  about  the  same  time  that  it 
took  the  England  of  William  the  Conqueror 
to  become  the  England  of  Edward  I,  the 
Flemish  towns  which  at  the  battle  of  Cassel 
had  first  shown  feudalism  that  they  were  a 
force,  had  gained  strength  to  defeat  the  most 
powerful  of  European  monarchies.  The  lead- 
ing town  at  the  earlier  period  was  Ypres ;  and 
down  to  the  thirteenth  century  this  was  the 
centre  of  the  Flemish  cloth  trade.  Its  great 
hall  of  the  Clothworkers'  Guild,  built  early  in 
that  century  in  the  finest  period  of  Gothic, 
remains  still  (or  remained  till  the  German 
bombardment  of  1914)  the  noblest  piece  of 


78  BELGIUM 

architecture  designed  for  a  civic  purpose  in 
Belgium,  and  perhaps  in  Europe.  And  it 
symbolises  a  very  notable  thing,  which  the 
Flemish  cloth  trade  initiated  in  the  modern 
world;  namely,  international  commerce  not 
in  aristocratic  luxuries  (such  as  the  silks  and 
jewels  and  spices  which  Venice  and  Genoa 
shipped  from  the  Levant,  or  the  suits  of  fine 
armour  and  swords  which  some  towns  manu- 
factured for  foreign  kings  and  nobles),  but 
in  a  relatively  cheap  manufactured  article 
of  common,  and  ultimately  universal,  use. 
Manufacture  and  wholesale  trade  as  a  means 
of  raising  the  material  comfort  and  welfare 
of  masses  of  men  first  appears  north  of  the 
Alps  in  the  Flemish  cities;  and  in  them  the 
great  guild  system  (adopted  from  them  in 
mediaeval  England,  France,  Brabant,  and 
Germany)  had  its  first  and  most  powerful 
development. 

A  contingent  from  Ypres  was  prominent  at 
the  Battle  of  the  Spurs;  indeed,  its  special 
heroism  decided  the  result.  But  for  some 
time  before  this  the  primacy  of  Ypres  had 
passed  to  the  great  rivals,  Bruges  and  Ghent  ;- 
and  it  is  they  who  dominate  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  most  glorious  of  Flemish  epochs. 
The  commanding  figure  of  this  age  is  Jacobus 
Van  Artevelde  of  Ghent,  who  directed  the 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    79 

poKcy  of  that  city  from  1336  to  1345.  His 
story,  like  that  of  his  son,  comes  before  the 
Uterary  world  in  the  pages  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  mediaeval  chroniclers,  Froissart, 
who  was  a  native  of  Valenciennes,  till  three 
centuries  later  a  Belgian  town;  but  much 
new  light  has  been  thrown  on  it  by  the  re- 
searches of  modern  Belgian  historians  into 
the  civic  archives  of  the  period.  The  struggle 
between  the  French  monarchy  and  the 
Flemish  burghers  was  renewed  actively  after 
the  accession  in  1322  of  Louis  de  Nevers  (a 
prince  brought  up  at  the  French  court)  as 
Count  of  Flanders.  He  had  not  reigned  long 
before  the  citizens  of  Bruges  and  Courtrai 
rose  against  him  and  took  him  prisoner. 
Influenced  by  French  threats,  and  also  by  a 
quarrel  with  Ghent,  they  set  him  free,  and  he 
resumed  his  position;  but  soon  afterwards 
there  was  a  second  rising,  which  drove  him  out 
of  the  country.  The  French  king,  Philip  of 
Valois,  intervened  with  a  large  army,  and  at 
Cassel  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on  the 
burgher  levies,  who  were  commanded  by  a 
popular  leader,  Nicholas  Zannekin.  This  was 
in  the  very  year  of  Philip's  accession  to  the 
French  throne — an  accession  disputed  by 
Edward  III  of  England,  who  claimed  that  he 
had  a  better  right  through  his  mother.     While, 


80  BELGIUM 

therefore,  the  battle  of  Cassel  reduced  the 
Flemish  to  subjection  under  Louis  de  Nevers 
and  France,  they  would  now  have  a  potential 
ally  against  France,  if  they  rebelled,  in  the 
person  of  Edward  III.  Perhaps  it  was 
because  an  English  alliance  had  twice  in  the 
previous  century  proved  a  broken  reed  that 
they  did  not  at  first  respond  to  Edward  Ill's 
advances.  In  1336  Edward  resolved  to  force 
them  to  show  their  hand,  and  accordingly 
prohibited  the  export  of  wool  from  England. 
Deprived  of  its  main  supply  of  raw  material, 
the  Flemish  weaving  industry  underwent  a 
severe  crisis  of  depression  and  unemployment ; 
and  during  this  Jacobus  Van  Artevelde  came 
to  the  front.  Legend,  which  has  described 
him  to  us  as  low-born  and  a  brewer,  is  certainly 
wrong  on  the  first  point  and  probably  on  the 
second.  His  father  was  a  great  cloth  merchant 
and  held  the  high  office  of  Echevin  at  Ghent,  an 
office  which  was  hereditary  in  a  few  patrician 
families.  Jacobus  himself  married  a  famous 
knight's  daughter,  and  was  always  treated  by 
Edward  III  and  the  other  great  personages  of 
the  day  with  the  utmost  personal  respect. 
Yet  he  differed  from  them,  because  he  was  not 
a  feudal  lord,  but  a  civic  statesman.  It  was 
as  an  orator  and  political  leader  that  for  nine 
years  he  ruled  his  native  Ghent,  and  for  a 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    81 

shorter  period  brought  all  the  chief  communes 
of  Flanders  into  a  league  that,  had  it  lasted, 
might  have  made  Flanders  a  nation.  He 
took  the  lead  at  Ghent  about  1336.  In  1337 
an  English  fleet  destroyed  the  navy  of  mer- 
cenary warships  (chiefly  Genoese),  with  which 
Louis  de  Nevers  blockaded  Bruges  and  Ghent 
and  controlled  their  commerce.  In  1338 
Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres  rose  against  their 
Count;  a  punitive  expedition  by  the  French 
king  failed ;  and  Louis  de  Nevers  had  to  give 
in,  and  swear  to  observe  the  constitutions  and 
charters  of  Flanders.  In  June  of  that  year 
treaties  were  signed  between  the  Flemish  city 
communes  and  both  England  and  France, 
whereby  the  Flemings  secured  the  right  to 
trade  freely  in  both  countries,  and  were  not 
bound  to  fight  with  either  on  behalf  of  the 
other.  This  was  a  great  achievement  of  Van 
Artevelde's  statesmanship,  and  at  once  re- 
stored to  Flanders  its  commercial  prosperity. 
But  it  was  not  what  either  of  the  rival  military 
monarchies  wanted;  and  in  the  following 
year  the  flight  of  Louis  de  Nevers  to  Paris, 
followed  by  a  French  invasion  and  devastation 
of  Flanders,  compelled  the  Ghent  statesman 
to  become  Edward  Ill's  ally.  A  treaty  was 
negotiated  at  Brussels  between  Edward  III  of 
England,  John  III,  Duke  of  Brabant,  and  the 


82  BELGIUM 

seven  principal  communes  of  Flanders — 
Ghent,  Bruges,  Ypres,  Courtrai,  Alost,  Oude- 
narde,  and  Grammont.  Edward  III  proceeded 
to  Ghent,  and  by  Van  Artevelde's  advice  was 
proclaimed  King  of  France,  and  received  the 
homage  of  the  Flemings  in  that  capacity. 
Next  spring  (1340)  the  Hundred  Years  War 
between  England  and  France  began. 

The  first  great  event  of  the  war,  the  de- 
cisive English  naval  victory  over  the  French 
at  Sluys  (1340),  was  materially  due  to  the 
men  of  Bruges,  who  (somewhat  like  the 
Prussians  at  Waterloo)  intervened  decisively 
at  the  critical  end  of  a  long  struggle.  After 
this  the  sea  passage  between  England  and 
Flanders  was  secure;  and  Edward  III,  with 
Flanders  as  a  base  and  Flemish  wealth  to 
pay  his  way,  waged  annual  campaigns  against 
the  French.  Unfortunately  for  Van  Arte- 
velde,  who  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  Anglo- 
Flemish  alliance,  no  striking  success  was 
obtained  in  them;  and  as  time  went  by, 
the  weak  points  of  the  Flemish  burghers, 
their  short-sighted  parsimony  and  factious 
partisanship,  reasserted  themselves  against 
his  influence.  Van  Artevelde  stood  for  a 
great  idea,  the  independence  of  the  Flemish 
conrnniunes  secured  by  harmony  and  a  de- 
fensive   alliance    between    them.      But    his 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    83 

fellow  Flemings  saw  more  clearly  that  he 
stood  for  paying  subsidies  to  Edward  III 
and  for  interfering  with  the  sacred  right  of 
one  Flemish  city  to  wage  selfish  and  interne- 
cine strife  with  another.  Already  in  1843 
he  was  formally  accused  of  seeking  to  be  a 
military  dictator,  but  the  Ghent  Council 
acquitted  him.  Nevertheless  he  could  not 
prevent  repeated  wars  from  breaking  out 
between  the  communes,  nor  even  the  feuds 
between  the  different  guilds  in  Ghent  itself 
from  developing  into  pitched  battles  on  the 
city  market-place.  Such  fights  between 
guilds  were  the  guild  equivalent  of  modem 
trade  disputes;  and  they  raged  fiercely  at 
this  time  between  the  weavers'  guild,  who 
represented  the  aristocracy  of  Ghent  in- 
dustry, and  the  fullers'  guild,  who  repre- 
sented a  humbler  class  of  labourers.  If  we 
remember  that  Van  Artevelde's  father  was 
a  great  weaver  and  he  himself  a  leading 
patrician,  we  may  perhaps  find  here  an  im- 
portant explanation  of  his  fall.  At  any 
rate  in  July  1345,  when  the  animosity  be- 
tween the  weavers  and  fullers  was  hottest, 
a  riot  broke  out  against  him  in  the  streets, 
his  house  was  attacked  by  the  mob,  and  he 
was  murdered.  So  fell  one  of  the  greatest 
of    mediaeval    statesmen,    a    man    much    in 


84  BELGIUM 

advance  of  his  time,  who  aimed  not  only 
at  achieving  the  independence  of  Flanders, 
but  at  establishing  security  for  the  new  in- 
dustrial civilisation  of  the  cities  against  the 
forces  of  feudal  and  monarchical  militarism 
which  raged  outside  their  walls.  In  1346, 
the  year  after  his  death,  Edward  III  won 
the  battle  of  Cr^cy.  Had  he  won  it  but 
fifteen  months  earlier.  Van  Artevelde  might 
very  well  have  lived  to  alter  the  whole 
history  not  only  of  Flanders,  but  of  Western 
culture. 

Van  Artevelde's  projects,  though  novel, 
were  not  Utopian.  The  Flemings  had  re- 
sources enough  to  attain  them,  could  they 
only  have  made  a  disciplined  and  concerted 
use  of  what  they  had.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  Ghent  alone  possessed  in  the  first  Van 
Artevelde's  time  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  million 
population,  or  three  times  that  of  London; 
and  the  realisable  wealth  in  Flanders  not 
only  vastly  surpassed  that  of  England,  but 
probably  exceeded  that  of  France.  Add 
that  the  Flemings  were  good  fighters,  and 
supplied  mercenaries  to  many  European 
wars.  But  after  Van  Artevelde's  death  the 
political  greatness  of  their  cities  steadily 
declined.  They  suffered  severely  from  the 
Black  Death,  that  memorable  plague  which 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    85 

shook  all  European  society;  and  then  were 
engaged  for  some  decades  in  struggles  with 
their  Count,  Louis  de  Male,  who  was  the 
son  of  Louis  de  Nevers  and  continued  to 
pursue,  with  more  astuteness,  all  the  worst 
aims  of  his  tyrant  father's  policy.  Edward 
III  took  advantage  of  the  troubles  to  invite 
large  numbers  of  Flemish  craftsmen  to  settle 
in  England,  which  they  enriched  by  establish- 
ing the  cloth  manufacture;  but  the  selfish- 
ness of  the  communes  after  Jacobus  Van 
Artevelde's  death  steadily  alienated  the 
King  from  effective  alliance.  In  1369  Louis 
de  Male's  daughter  and  heiress  was  married 
to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  (the  brother  of 
the  then  King  of  France),  and  the  courts  of 
France,  Burgundy,  and  Flanders  adopted  a 
common  policy,  directed  against  the  liberty 
of  the  communes.  Bruges  in  the  hands  of 
the  "  Leliaerts  "  became  the  military  base 
of  the  Count;  the  artisans  of  Ghent  fought 
the  last  battles  for  freedom.  There  was  a 
moment  in  1379  when  Ghent  had  rallied 
nearly  all  the  cities  to  her  side,  and  Louis 
de  Male,  closely  besieged  in  Oudenarde, 
came  to  terms  with  his  opponents.  But 
as  soon  as  he  was  free  he  tore  up  the  agree- 
ment, fled  to  France,  returned  with  an  army, 
and  within  a  few  months,  by  a  mixture  of 


86  BELGIUM 

intrigue  and  force  had  recovered  every  town 
in  Flanders  but  Ghent.  He  then  twice  (1380 
and  1381)  attacked  Ghent  itself;  and  though 
baffled  by  the  fortifications,  inflicted  a  crush- 
ing defeat  on  the  city's  field  army  at  Nevele. 
Ghent  was  practically  blockaded,  and  famine 
was  in  prospect.  There  was  no  chance  of 
foreign  help,  for  the  conflict  had  assumed  a 
clearly  revolutionary  character,  as  a  struggle 
between  feudalism  and  the  communes;  and 
not  only  were  similar  struggles  simultaneously 
in  progress  in  Brabant  (between  the  Duke 
and  the  commune  of  Louvain)  and  in  France 
(between  the  King  and  the  commune  of 
Paris),  but  England  itself  under  Richard  II 
was  in  the  throes  of  revolutionary  movements. 
In  its  agony  Ghent  turned  to  Philip  Van 
Artevelde,  the  son  of  the  great  Jacobus; 
and  with  bitter  contrition  for  his  father's 
murder  appointed  him  "  First  Captain  of 
the  City  of  Ghent "  and  "  Regent  of  Flanders  " 
(January  1382).  There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  Philip  was  a  man  of  genius,  but  he  did 
his  best  in  a  desperate  situation.  He  first 
tried  to  obtain  terms  for  the  starving  city 
from  the  Count,  but  failed;  and  then  made 
a  sortie  with  a  picked  force  of  something 
over  5000  men  against  the  Count's  army 
at  Bruges.     Though  outnumbered    by  over 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    87 

seven  to  one,  the  Ghent  burghers  won  a  com- 
plete victory,  followed  immediately  by  their 
capture  of  Bruges  and  the  revictualling  of 
their  own  population.  But  unfortunately 
Louis  de  M&le  himself,  though  chased  and 
hard  pressed,  escaped  in  disguise  and  made 
his  way  again  to  France.  In  November 
of  the  same  year  a  great  French  feudal  army, 
commanded  by  the  King  but  directed  by 
the  military  talents  of  Oliver  de  Clisson, 
Constable  of  France,  marched  into  Flanders 
to  crush  the  rebel  artisans.  The  Flemings 
were  outgeneralled  by  De  Clisson;  they 
lost  two  battles;  and  at  the  second  and 
greatest,  the  battle  of  Roosebeke  (November 
27,  1382),  Philip  Van  Artevelde  and  25,000 
Flemings  were  slain.  The  French  King  did 
not  besiege  Ghent,  but  after  sacking  Courtrai 
returned  to  Paris  to  crush  the  commune 
there;  and  with  English  assistance  the 
Ghent  burghers  held  out  against  Louis  de 
Male  till  his  death  fourteen  months  later. 
But  the  hope  of  freedom  for  the  Flemish 
city-commonwealths  was  gone.  What  the 
battle  of  the  Golden  Spurs  began,  the  catas- 
trophe of  Roosebeke  fatally  ended;  Ghent 
had  made  the  great  refusal  thirty-seven 
years  earlier,  when  Jacobus  Van  Artevelde 
was    murdered;     and    not    all    its    belated 


88  BELGIUM 

heroism  under  his  son  could  avert  the  con- 
sequences. 

The  epoch  of  the  Arteveldes,  whose  story 
we  have  briefly  summarised,  left  a  mark 
on  the  Low  Countries  which  has  never  been 
wholly  effaced.  To  this  day  it  is  impossible 
without  some  knowledge  of  it  to  penetrate 
the  soul  of  modern  Belgium.  In  three  ways 
particularly  is  its  effect  felt.  In  the  first 
place  it  has  given  local  feeling  and  municipal 
patriotism  a  peculiar  intensity.  An  in- 
habitant of  Ghent  or  Bruges,  Courtrai  or 
Ypres,  Brussels  or  Antwerp,  is  apt  still  to 
think  of  his  city  first  and  his  country  after- 
wards ;  and  the  Burgomasters  and  tlchevins 
of  the  modern  towns,  though  very  different 
functionaries  from  their  mediaeval  name- 
sakes, have  an  extraordinary  hold  on  the 
imagination  of  the  people — alike  in  con- 
stitutional crises  and  in  the  German  invasion 
of  1914  they  have  often  seemed  the  firmest 
rallying-points  in  Belgian  societyc  Secondly, 
it  is  above  all  in  the  history  and  tradition 
of  this  period  that  the  Belgians  have  their 
national  epic,  their  treasure  of  national 
romance.  The  tangle  of  wars  and  rivalries, 
in  which  at  times  the  hand  of  almost  every 
Flemish  town  seems  against  that  of  every 
other,  are  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  human 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    89 

interest;  and  they  are  so  because  with  all 
their  blindness  and  final  failure  the  forces 
at  work  were  new  forces ;  there  was  a  genuine 
upheaval  of  human  life  from  the  depths, 
with  that  note  of  freshness  and  exhilaration 
which  goes  with  the  perceiving  of  new 
horizons.  Thirdly,  the  memory  of  the  men 
of  that  time  has  always  been  an  assurance 
to  their  descendants — even  in  the  darkest 
hours  of  their  subsequent  oppression  and 
humiliation  during  the  centuries  when 
Belgium  was  the  *'  cockpit  of  Europe " — 
that  they  are  a  great  people  and  a  distinct 
people.  But  for  it  their  nationality  could 
never  have  risen  triumphant  from  its  grave, 
as  during  the  nineteenth  century  it  did. 

The  history  of  Brabant  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  ran  a  course  parallel 
to  that  of  Flanders.  The  struggle  between 
feudalism  and  the  communes  was  similar, 
though  on  a  smaller  scale  and  freer  from 
foreign  interference.  The  victory  of  Duke 
John  I  at  Woeringen  (1288)  over  a  German 
coahtion  confirmed  Brabant's  independence 
against  German  aggression;  just  as  the 
victory  of  the  Golden  Spurs,  fourteen  years 
later,  confirmed  that  of  Flanders  against 
French.  But  Woeringen  was  won  by  the 
nobles  on  behalf  of  the  people,  not  by  the 


90  BELGIUM 

people  fighting  against  the  nobles.  One 
other  date  must  be  noted  as  a  landmark 
for  future  constitutional  development,  the 
Joyous  Entry  of  Duke  Wenceslas  (1356). 
"  Joyous  Entries "  into  their  principal 
towns,  Lou  vain  and  Brussels,  were  a  regular 
part  of  the  accession  ceremonies  of  the 
Dukes  of  Brabant ;  and  were  usually  signalised 
by  their  confirming  or  granting  whatever 
charters  or  privileges  the  citizens  had  or 
could  extort.  Wenceslas  was  a  foreigner, 
who  married  the  heiress  of  the  last  native 
duke;  and  perhaps  for  this  reason  the 
charter  of  his  Joyous  Entry,  though  it  con- 
tained no  new  liberties,  was  a  specially 
thorough  ratification  of  those  previously 
conceded.  As  time  went  on,  it  became 
for  Brabant  what  Magna  Charta  and  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  were  for  England;  and 
owing  to  the  later  prominence  of  Brabant 
as  the  metropolitan  province,  it  was  this, 
and  not  the  charters  of  Flanders,  which 
formed  the  main  basis  of  modern  Belgian 
constitutional  liberty. 

If  the  fourteenth  century  is  dominated 
by  the  great  communes,  the  fifteenth  is 
dominated  by  the  House  of  Burgundy, 
under  whom  the  germs  of  a  national  idea 
were  first  developed.     Though  these  princes, 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    91 

iikc  the  Habsburgs  later,  were  foreigners, 
they  acquired  their  position  by  marriage 
through  the  failure  of  native  dynasties  in 
the  male  line;  and  they  came  to  develop  a 
decidedly  national  pohcy  for  their  Belgian 
subjects.  They  ruthlessly  crushed,  it  is  true, 
the  liberties  of  the  communes;  but  partly, 
at  least,  because  those  liberties  in  their 
particularist  form  seemed  to  make  it  im- 
possible either  to  preserve  the  internal  peace 
of  the  country  or  to  organise  its  defence 
against  foreign  aggression.  Philip  the  Good 
(1419-1467)  first  united  all  the  provinces, 
including  Holland,  under  a  single  rule;  and 
in  his  long  reign  went  a  long  way  towards 
founding  a  new  monarchy,  which  should 
be  independent  of  France  or  Germany, 
and  whose  centre  of  gravity  should  be  in 
Flanders  and  Brabant.  If  his  hand  was 
heavy  on  the  political  privileges  of  the 
cities,  their  commercial,  industrial,  and 
artistic  activities  flourished  under  his  sway. 
Bruges,  as  a  semi-royal  capital  and  the  seat 
of  the  Order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  enjoyed 
its  last  great  prosperity;  Ghent,  in  spite 
of  its  terrible  chastisement  in  1453  at  the 
battle  of  Gavre,  maintained  its  population 
and  wealth;  Brabant  for  the  first  time 
began  to  catch  Flanders  up,  and  the  wonder- 


92  BELGIUM 

ful  town  halls  of  Brussels  and  Louvain  arc 
the  surviving  record  of  their  new  civic 
magnificence.  From  this  period  dates  the 
University  of  Louvain  (founded  1425);  from 
this  period  too,  the  commencement  of 
Antwerp  Cathedral,  and  the  rise  of  Antwerp 
itself  as  a  great  port.  Philip  was  an  en- 
lightened patron  of  the  arts;  he  not  only 
encouraged  fine  buildings,  but  he  took  the 
brothers  Van  Eyck,  the  greatest  of  Primitive 
Flemish  painters,  under  his  personal  patron- 
age; and  it  was  under  his  sway  that  the 
painting  of  the  Low  Countries  fu*st  gave 
promise  of  the  place  which  it  was  destined 
to  fill  in  the  artistic  achievement  of  the 
world.  In  short  his  reign,  which  coincides 
with  the  introduction  of  printing  and  the 
first  advent  of  the  Greek  Renaissance,  ex- 
hibits more  wealth,  more  splendour  and 
refinement,  more  intellectual  and  artistic 
work  within  the  Belgian  provinces  than 
ever  before.  After  the  death  of  his  son 
Charles  the  Bold  in  circumstances  which 
ended  for  ever  the  dream  of  a  Burgundian 
kingdom,  the  communes  underwent  for 
some  years  vicissitudes  of  freedom  and  sup- 
pression. They  first  (1477)  extorted  from 
his  orphan  daughter,  Mary,  the  "  Great 
Privilege,"  a  restoration  of  all  their  charters 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    93 

and  liberties.  It  was  accompanied  by  the 
convening  of  a  States-General,  a  sort  of 
Parliament;  whose  development,  though  of 
more  capital  importance  for  the  history  of 
Holland,  had  its  consequences  also  for  that 
of  Belgium.  Later  on,  Mary's  widower, 
the  Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria,  after- 
wards Emperor,  took  away  most  of  these 
concessions  by  the  Treaties  of  Damme  (1490) 
and  Cadzand  (1492),  after  protracted  con- 
flicts with  both  Ghent  and  Bruges.  But, 
though  the  greatness  of  Bruges  passed  to 
Antwerp,  the  wealth  of  the  Low  Countries 
continued  to  increase.  Finally  the  accession 
in  1506  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V  (born  at 
Ghent  in  1500)  gave  them  a  prince,  whom 
their  people  could  regard  as  a  native,  and 
who  amid  multifarious  campaigns  and  the 
cares  of  a  motley  empire  greater  than  any 
since  the  decline  of  Rome  always  took  an 
especial  pride  in  the  provinces,  which  were 
his  earliest  dominion  and  to  the  last  brought 
him  his  greatest  wealth.  Under  the  Re- 
gencies of  his  aunt,  Margaret  of  Austria, 
and  his  sister,  Mary  Queen  of  Hungary, 
Belgium  reached  the  climax  of  its  prosperity. 
The  Low  Countries  were  then  organised  as 
a  single  dominion  of  seventeen  provinces, 
there  being  added  to  the  nine  of  Belgium 


94  BELGIUM 

the  seven  which  make  modern  Holland, 
and  Artois,  which  is  now  part  of  France. 
The  nine  were  not  quite  the  same  as  to-day, 
East  and  West  Flanders  forming  one  province, 
while  Malines  (Mechlin)  was  the  centre  of  a 
province  to-day  merged  in  those  of  Brabant 
and  Antwerp.  Brussels,  owing  to  its  central 
position,  became  the  capital  and  seat  of 
government  for  the  whole.  Another  im- 
portant step  was  the  institution  of  a  national 
Privy  Council.  This  was  formed  in  1517, 
when  Charles  V,  already  ruler  of  the  Low 
Countries  in  person,  went  away  to  Spain 
to  receive  the  crown  of  Aragon  and  take 
over  the  government  in  succession  to  his 
grandfather  Ferdinand.  At  first  a  temporary 
body,  it  was  constituted  of  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  (the  famous  Order  established 
at  Bruges  by  Philip  the  Good),  combined 
with  leading  members  of  a  Council  of  the 
States  which  met  at  Malines.  Several  times 
reappointed  after  brief  intervals,  the  Council 
became  permanent;  and  together  with  the 
central  administration  which  (under  the 
Regent)  it  controlled,  exerted  a  powerful 
unifying  effect  over  the  entire  Netherlands. 
In  1531  it  was  constituted  in  three  collateral 
bodies — a  Council  of  State,  a  Privy  Council, 
and  a  Council  of  Finance;    and  this  triple 


HISTORIC  GLORIES  OF  BELGIUM    95 

constitution  lasted,   with  a  few  brief  inter- 
ruptions, for  two  centuries  and  a  half. 

Charles  V's  Government  was  harassed  by 
repeated  unsuccessful  attempts  on  the  part 
of  the  French  monarchy  to  annex  Artois 
and  Flanders.  There  was  also  a  famous 
revolt  of  Ghent  in  1539,  crushed  by  Charles 
in  1540.  But  in  spite  of  these  troubles 
the  country  reached  the  high-water  mark 
of  its  prosperity.  The  Belgians  carried  on 
in  the  sixteenth  century  a  far  greater  trade 
than  any  people  had  before,  for  there  was 
concentrated  in  their  hands  what  in  the 
seventeenth  century  was  divided  between 
the  Dutch,  the  English  and  the  French. 
It  is  said  that  nearly  500  of  the  light  vessels 
of  those  times  entered  and  left  the  port 
of  Antwerp  daily,  and  it  did  more  business 
in  a  month  than  Venice  did  in  two  years. 
The  old  staple  products  of  the  Flemish 
looms,  their  unrivalled  cloths  and  linens, 
came  to  be  exported  far  beyond  the  confines 
of  Europe ;  but  besides  them  a  host  of  special 
industries  had  grown  up  in  textiles  and 
metals.  It  was  now  that  the  carpets  of 
Brussels,  the  tapestries  of  Arras,  the  cannon 
of  Mons  and  Li^ge,  the  gloves  of  Louvain, 
the  lace  of  Malines,  and  a  great  many  localised 
types  of  velvet,  silk,  embroidery,  and  damask 


96  BELGIUM 

enjoyed  their  highest  reputation.  The  lead 
of  the  Belgian  cities  over  the  other  European 
capitals  is  well  expressed  by  the  punning 
remark  of  Charles  V  to  the  French  King, 
Francis  I :  "I  could  put  your  Paris  inside 
my  Ghent  "  (the  French  for  "  Ghent  "  and 
"  glove "  are  the  same  in  pronunciation). 
Yet  Ghent,  though  large,  had  declined  from 
its  fourteenth-century  size;  the  leading 
city  now  was  Antwerp,  with  perhaps  a 
quarter  of  a  million  inhabitants.  Ghent 
came  next  with  about  two-thirds  of  the 
population  of  Antwerp,  and  Liege  (still 
separate  under  its  Prince-Bishop)  next  again. 
Brussels,  though  a  fine  city  and  the  capital 
of  the  provinces,  had  perhaps  not  over  a 
third  of  the  population  of  Antwerp.  London 
in  the  Emperor  Charles  V's  time  was  about 
on  the  scale  of  Brussels ;  it  grew  much  under 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  in  1590  the  Italian 
writer,  Giovanni  Botero,  classed  it  as  the 
equal  of  Ghent  with  about  160,000  inhabitants. 
No  other  English  town  was  in  the  sixteenth 
century  comparable  to  the  great  cities  of 
Belgium. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  HISTORIC  SUBJECTION  OF  BELGIUM 

No  one  could  appreciate  the  sentiment  of 
the  Belgian  nation  regarding  its  unity  and 
independence  without  some  understanding  of 
its  sufferings  during  the  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years  of  its  subjection  to  foreign 
rule.  The  first  act  in  this  long  tragedy,  the 
reign  of  Philip  II  of  Spain,  is  fairly  well  known 
to  English  and  American  readers  through  the 
works  of  Motley.  The  later  developments 
during  the  long  period  when  Belgium  was 
/ought  over  and  torn  in  pieces  by  the  Powers, 
like  a  bone  by  quarrelling  dogs,  have  been  less 
vividly  realised.  True,  some  of  the  masters 
of  English  literature,  such  as  Sterne  and 
Thackeray,  have  thrown  a  picturesque  light 
round  British  campaigns  in  the  country; 
but,  like  the  campaigners,  they  gave  little 
notice  to  the  inhabitants,  and  what  they 
did  give  is  sometimes  very  unfair. 

The  period  1555-1830  falls  into  six  sections  i 
D  97 


HISTORIC   SUBJECTION  99 

(1)  the  reign  of  Philip  II,  1555-1598;  (2)  the 
reign  (exempt  from  direct  Spanish  administra- 
tion) of  the  Archduke  Albert  and  the  Princess 
Isabella,  his  wife  (Philip  IPs  daughter), 
1599-1624;  (3)  Spanish  rule,  1624-1713;  (4) 
Austrian  rule,  1713-1795;  (5)  French  rule, 
1795-1815;  (6)  Dutch  rule,  1815-1830.  Of 
these  the  only  period  that  had  even  the 
semblance  of  prosperity  was  the  second,  when 
the  Belgian  government  was  quasi -autono- 
mous. It  was  the  age  of  Antwerp's  supremacy 
in  painting,  and  Lou  vain 's  in  learning;  of 
Rubens,  Jordaens,  and  Van  Dyck;  of  Hein- 
sius,  Lipsius,  and  Mercator.  The  work  of  the 
printer  Plantin  at  Antwerp,  whose  house,  now 
the  Mus6e  Plantin,  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing surviving  relics  of  that  city's  past,  belongs 
to  this  brief  spell  of  artistic  and  industrial 
revival.  David  Teniers  (bom  at  Antwerp 
1610)  was  also  its  child;  though  his  master- 
piec(S  were  painted  later  under  Spanish 
viceroys. 

Of  the  reign  of  Philip  II  we  need  say  little 
here.  When  it  opened,  the  Low  Countries 
were  at  the  height  of  their  wealth  and  fame, 
and  were  more  loyal  to  their  rulers  than  ever 
before.  When  it  ended,  the  Dutch  provinces 
were  free,  and  the  Belgian  provinces,  though 
reconquered  save  for  some  of  the  coast  towns, 


100  BELGIUM 

had  been  devastated  by  thirty  years  of  war 
and  nearly  forty  of  religious  persecution. 
Already,  before  Alva's  arrival  (1567),  some 
30,000  Belgian  refugees  had  fled  to  England; 
during  his  seven  years'  rule  those  who  perished 
at  the  scaffold  or  stake  are  said  to  have  ex- 
ceeded 18,000;  to  the  latter  figure  must  be 
added  not  only  the  victims  of  his  battles,  but 
those  of  the  merciless  sacking  of  Mons,  Malines, 
and  other  places.  After  Alva's  departure, 
the  terrible  mutiny  of  the  Spanish  troops 
(who  massacred  6000  people  at  Antwerp  in 
the  "  Spanish  Fury  "  of  1576),  and  the  long 
wars  of  Don  John  of  Austria  and  the  Prince 
of  Parma  with  their  many  famous  battles 
and  sieges,  had  been  added  to  the  bloody 
record.  There  are  no  total  figures,  but  it 
seems  likely  that  the  population  was  reduced 
by  at  least  50  per  cent.  The  permanent 
wealth  of  the  country  declined  even  more. 
Throughout  the  period  there  was  an  unceasing 
outflow  of  many  of  the  most  active  industrial 
elements  to  England  and  Holland.  ..The 
trading  prosperity  of  Amsterdam  and  Rotter- 
dam not  merely  followed  on  the  decline  of 
Antwerp  and  Ghent,  but  was  in  considerable 
part  the  work  of  refugees  from  those  places. 
Protestantism  in  Belgium  was  completely 
stamped  out;    only   Roman   Catholics   were 


HISTORIC   SUBJECTION         101 

left  living.  As  the  Dutch  were  almost  as 
ruthless  in  persecuting  the  Roman  Catholics, 
a  hard-and-fast  division  was  created  between 
the  Dutch  and  Belgians,  which  brought  to 
nothing  repeated  attempts  (especially  in 
1576,  and  again  as  late  as  1632)  to  unite  the 
two.  peoples  in  one  independent  State. 

The  joint  reign  of  Albert  and  Isabella  was, 
as  we  have  said,  a  brighter  interlude.  They 
ruled  not  as  the  tools  of  Madrid,  but  as  quasi- 
independent  sovereigns.  Unfortunately,  more 
than  a  third  of  their  joint  reign  was  blighted 
by  the  war  with  the  Dutch,  which  was  waged 
principally  on  Belgian  soil,  and  included  some 
of  the  most  desperate  feats  in  the  military 
history  of  the  Low  Coimtries,  such  as  the 
three  years'  siege  of  Ostend.  In  1621  the 
Archduke  Albert  died  childless;  and  in 
accordance  with  Philip  II's  original  deed  of 
cession  to  his  daughter  and  son-in-law  Belgium 
reverted  to  the  Spanish  Crown.  The  formal 
transfer  was  effected  in  1624 ;  and  the  speedy 
return  of  Spanish  abuses,  followed  by  French 
and  Dutch  wars,  submerged  the  brief  sunset 
splendour  of  the  age  of  Rubens.  Nevertheless, 
the  work  of  the  men  of  that  age,  and  not  least 
the  Titanic  effort  of  Rubens  himself,  has 
remained  and  still  remains  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  pride  and  inspiration  to  the  Belgian 


102  BELGIUM 

people.  Its  gospel  is  essentially  of  the  Re- 
naissance and  Pagan,  a  gospel  of  human  (and 
especially  physical)  development  and  enjoy- 
ment; but  it  was  translated  with  such 
amazing  power  by  the  paintings  of  Rubens  and 
Jordaens  into  the  very  idiom  of  Flemish  taste 
and  feeling  that  the  translation  became 
virtually  a  new  work,  a  revelation  to  the 
Belgian  people  of  forces  within  themselves, 
which  had  never  before  found  such  mighty 
expression.  What  the  genius  of  Shakespeare 
has  been  to  the  English  nation,  that,  it  is 
scarcely  too  much  to  say,  the  creative  energy 
of  Rubens  has  been  to  the  Flemings. 

Already  since  Alva's  time  Belgium  had  been 
becoming  the  "  cockpit  of  Europe."  French, 
English,  and  Dutch  all  used  it  as  their  battle- 
ground against  Spain,  with  German  and 
Austrian  troops  coming  in  as  Spain's  auxilia- 
ries. But  in  the  130  years  which  followed  the 
Archduke  Albert's  death,  this  hardship  reached 
its  climax.  Most  of  the  wars  waged  in  West 
Europe  were  waged  by  or  against  the  ambitious 
French  monarchy,  with  Holland  first  as  its 
ally,  later  as  the  centre  of  resistance  to  it.  As 
Belgium  lay  between  France  and  Holland, 
and  belonged  throughout  to  one  or  other  of 
France's  Continental  rivals,  Spain  and  Austria, 
her  soil  was  the  inevitable  meeting-ground  of 


HISTORIC   SUBJECTION         103 

their  armies;  besides  being  particularly  ac- 
cessible to  oversea  intervention  from  England. 
Its  extensive  plains  were  well  suited  for 
pitched  battles  of  the  old  one-day  type ;  but 
its  lack  of  natural  obstacles  caused  it  to  be 
heavily  fortified,  and  it  became  above  all 
celebrated  for  siege  warfare. 

How  this  struck  a  contemporary  may  be 
curiously  seen  from  an  old  English  book, 
Instructions  for  Forreine  Travell,  written  by 
James  Howell,  a  clerk  in  the  diplomatic  ser- 
vice, in  1642.  After  taking  his  traveller  to 
Italy,  and  bringing  him  back  across  the  Alps 
through  "  the  Cantons,  those  rugged  Re- 
publics," and  "  the  stately  proud  cities  of 
Germany,"  Howell  conducts  him  to  Brussels, 

and  there  he  shall  behold  the  face  of  a 
constant  Military  Court  and  Provincial 
Government,  with  a  miscellany  of  all 
nations ;  and  if  there  be  any  leaguers 
{i.e.  sieges)  afoot  or  armies  in  motion,  it 
should  be  time  well  spent  to  see  them.  For 
the  Netherlands  have  been  for  many  years, 
as  one  may  say,  the  very  cockpit  of 
Christendom,  the  school  of  arms  and 
rendezvous  of  all  adventurous  spirits  and 
cadets ;  which  makes  most  nations  be- 
holden to  them  for  soldiers.  Therefore 
the  history  of  the  Belgic  wars  are  very 
worth  the  reading ;  for  I  know  none  fuller 


104  BELGIUM 

of  stratagems,  of  reaches  of  policy,  of 
rariety  of  successes  in  so  short  a  time : 
nor  in  which  more  princes  have  been  en- 
gaged for  reasons  of  State,  nor  a  war  which 
hath  produced j  such  deplorable  effects,  directly 
or  collaterally,  all  Christendom  over,  both 
by  sea  and  land. 

The  very  naivete  of  this  passage  is  informing. 
Howell  has  been  pointing  out  the  things  of 
note  in  each  country ;  and  when  he  comes  to 
Belgium,  he  takes  as  the  only  thing  worth 
mentioning  its  permanent  "  military  court " 
and  standing  army  of  mercenaries  drawn  from 
all  nations ;  adding,  as  the  characteristic 
spectacle,  with  which  the  country  may  be 
expected  to  regale  the  sightseer,  sieges  and 
campaigns  1  Already  it  is  known  as  the 
"  cockpit  of  Christendom  " ;  already  its  war 
is  a  by- word  as  having  produced  the  "  most 
deplorable  effects  "  ever  recorded.  And  yet 
in  1642  the  great  battles  and  sieges  on  Belgian 
soil,  by  which  Cond6  and  Turenne,  William 
III  and  Marshal  Luxembourg,  the  great 
fortress -engineer  Vauban,  Marlborough  and 
Prince  Eugene,  and  Marshal  Saxe  made  the 
greater  part  of  their  military  reputations,  lay 
still  in  the  future.  So  did  the  later  cam- 
paigns of  Jemmappes,  Neerwinden,  Fleurus, 
and  Waterloo. 

The  miseries  which  this  situation  entailed 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION         105 

on  the  natives  of  the  country  may  be  better 
imagined  than  described.  The  armies  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  were 
composed  of  mercenaries.  Not  only  was  it 
the  regular  policy  of  commanders  to  "  live 
on  the  country,"  but  a  certain  amount  of 
loot  and  rape  was  regarded  by  the  individual 
soldier  as  one  of  the  recognised  rewards  of  his 
adventurous  calling.  Armies  mutinied  if 
they  were  not  from  time  to  time  given  a  town 
or  a  village  to  sack.  But  in  these  Belgian 
wars  the  country  on  which  both  sides  lived 
was  the  Belgian  country,  the  towns  which 
both  armies  sacked  were  the  Belgian  towns. 
Small  wonder  if  the  people  were  not  only 
impoverished  but  brutalised,  if  their  traditional 
hospitality  gave  way  to  a  sullen  and  almost 
impartial  dislike  of  all  foreigners,  if  they  were 
driven  back  on  themselves  into  a  gloomy  and 
crafty  egotism,  clinging  desperately  to  the 
municipal  privileges  and  local  liberties,  which 
alone  were  left  them  out  of  the  wreck.  A 
weaker  people  would  have  been  exterminated. 
The  Belgians  by  sheer  pertinacity  survived, 
their  patient  industry  working  without  rest 
to  repair  the  woimds  which  devastation  and 
rapine  inflicted. 

Just  as  Belgium  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  the  theatre  of  most  European  wars,  so  its 
towns  and  provinces  were  the  small  change 
P2 


106  BELGIUM 

of  most  diplomatic  negotiations .  The  national 
heritage  was  considerably  pared  down  in  the 
process.  By  the  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees 
(1659)  Louis  XIV  annexed  to  France  nearly 
the  whole  province  of  Artois,  with  the  im- 
portant town  of  Arras.  At  the  Peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  (1668)  he  got  his  hand  into 
Flanders  and  Hainaut,  taking  the  towns  and 
districts  of  Douai,  Lille,  Courtrai,  Oudenarde, 
and  Charleroi.  By  the  Peace  of  Nimeguen 
(1679)  he  gave  back  Courtrai,  Oudenarde, 
and  Charleroi,  but  took  Valenciennes,  Cam- 
brai,  St.  Omer,  Ypres,  and  Nieuport  instead. 
By  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  (1697)  he  gave  up 
Ypres  and  Nieuport,  and  the  frontier  was 
determined  much  as  it  is  now.  As  the  net 
result  of  his  various  aggressions  he  had  added 
to  the  permanent  territory  of  France  not  only 
Artois,  with  the  town  of  Arras,  but  the 
important  strip  of  Flanders  and  Hainaut, 
including  Dunkirk,  St.  Omer,  Lille,  Roubaix, 
Valenciennes,  and  Cambrai.  His  gains  now 
form  the  French  department  of  the  Nord,  with 
most  of  that  of  the  Pas-de-Calais,  and 
they  comprise  one  of  the  most  important 
coal-mining  and  manufacturing  districts  of 
France.  Thus  was  last  settled  the  national- 
ity of  a  region  which  had  been  debated 
in  war  for  centuries.  The  military  promi- 
nence which  this  very  region  has  reassumed 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION  107 

in  the  fighting  of  1914-1915  is  a  striking 
example  of  the  way  in  which  the  strategical 
consequences  entailed  by  a  geographical  posi- 
tion re-assert  themselves  over  long  periods 
of  time. 

The  most  famous  Belgian  battles  of  Louis 
XIV's  period  are  perhaps  worth  briefly  enu- 
merating. They  were :  Honnecourt  (1642), 
where  the  long-invincible  "  Spanish  infantry  " 
(chiefly  composed  of  Walloons)  won  its  last 
great  victory  over  the  French  :  Rocroi  (1643), 
where  the  celebrated  Prince  of  Cond6  (then 
Due  d'Enghien)  gained  the  first  of  a  series  of 
French  victories,  by  which  the  credit  of  the 
Spanish  infantry  was  destroyed ;  Lens  (1648), 
a  repetition  by  Cond6  of  his  victory  at  Rocroi ; 
the  Dunes  (1658),  in  which  the  Spanish  were 
defeated  by  Turennc,the  second  of  Louis  XIV's 
world-famous  generals,  with  the  powerful 
assistance  of  5000  of  Cromwell's  English 
veterans;  Seneffe  (1674),  where  the  youthful 
Prince  of  Orange,  afterwards  William  III  of 
England,  was  defeated  by  the  veteran  Cond6; 
Steenkerke  (1692),  in  which  a  large  mixed  army 
of  Dutch,  Germans,  Spanish,  and  English 
under  William  III  was  defeated  by  the  French 
Marshal  Luxembourg;  Neerwinden  or  Lan- 
den  (1693),  in  which  William  III  was  again 
defeated  by  the  same  opponent;  Ramillies 
(1706),  in  which  the  English  and  Dutch  allies 


108  BELGIUM 

under  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  defeated  the 
French  under  Marshal  Villeroi ;  Oudenarde 
(1708),  in  which  Marlborough  and  Prince 
Eugene  of  Savoy  defeated  the  French  under 
the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Venddme;  and 
Malplaquet  (1709),  in  which  Marlborough  and 
Eugene  obtained  a  Pyrrhic  victory  over  the 
French  Marshal  Villars.  But  this  list  of  battles 
gives  only  a  faint  idea  of  the  number  and  extent 
of  the  campaigns.  Those  were  above  all  the 
days  of  endless  marches  and  counter-marches, 
entrenchments  and  counter-entrenchments, 
and  of  Fabian  tactics,  whose  object  was  to 
cause  the  distress,  and  dissolution  of  the 
enemy's  mercenary  army  without  incurring 
the  hazard  and  losses  of  a  general  action. 
There  were  generals  then  like  William  III; 
who  earned  a  formidable  military  reputation 
by  these  methods,  although  in  every  one  of  his 
great  pitched  battles  on  the  Continent  he  was 
defeated.  There  were  literally  scores  of  im- 
portant sieges;  those  best-known  to  English 
readers  are  William .  Ill's  siege  of  Namur  (for 
which  see  Sterne's  Tristram  Shandy),  and 
Marlborough's  sieges  of  Lille,  Toumai,  and 
Mons;  but  perhaps  the  most  cruel  to  Belgian 
sentiment  was  Marshal  Villeroi's  devastating 
bombardment  of  Brussels  (1695).  Many  of 
these  names  serve  to  emphasise  afresh  the 
identity  of  Louis  XIV's  battle-grounds  with 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION         109 

those  of  the  1914-1915  war.  The  showing  of 
history  is  that  any  conflicts,  in  which  the 
hegemony  of  Europe  is  sought,  whether  by 
Spain,  France,  or  Germany,  are  almost  bound 
to  be  fought  on  this  area.  If  the  Napoleonic 
Wars  before  1815  seem  an  exception,  it  is 
only  an  apparent  one;  the  truth  being  that 
the  French  Republic  by  its  annexation  of 
Belgium  in  1795  had  already  tipped  the  bal- 
ance of  Europe  heavily  in  France's  favour. 
The  only  reason  why  Napoleon  had  not  to 
fight  for  this  advantage  was  that  his  immediate 
predecessors  had  secured  it  in  advance.  The 
campaign  of  1815,  on  the  other  hand,  showed 
the  normal  development  of  the  game  when 
the  pieces  started  fair  on  the  chessboard. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  (1713),  what  were 
left  of  the  unhappy  Belgian  provinces  were 
transferred  from  Spain  to  Austria.  They 
were  well  rid  of  the  Spaniards,  who  when 
strong  had  mercilessly  oppressed  them,  and 
when  weak  had  left  them  helplessly  exposed 
to  French  and  Dutch  invasions.  The  Aus- 
trians  proved  a  little  better  in  both  respects. 
Their  first  agent  in  Belgiima,  the  Piedmontese 
Marquis  de  Pri6  (he  was  deputy  for  the 
nominal  governor.  Prince  Eugene),  believed  in 
using  the  iron  hand;  but  after  his  time  for 
nearly  sixty  years  a  lighter  rule  was  the 
practice.    With  their  town  trade  destroyed 


no  BELGIUM 

and  strangled,  the  people  fell  back  on  agricul- 
ture. It  is  now  that  the  closeness  of  peasant 
cultivation  in  Flanders  begins.  Unfortunately 
the  first  great  European  War  after  the  Peace 
of  Utrecht — the  war  between  England  and 
Austria  on  the  one  side,  and  France  and 
Prussia  on  the  other  over  the  question  of 
the  Austrian  succession  and  Frederick  the 
Great's  seizure  of  Silesia — made  Belgium  a 
**  cockpit  "  again.  In  1744  the  French  in- 
vaded the  provinces ;  in  1745,  under  Marshal 
Saxe,  they  won  the  famous  victory  of  Fontenoy 
over  the  Anglo-Gterman  army  commanded  by 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland;  in  1747  Marshal 
Saxe  besieged  and  captured  Brussels,  and  won 
another  great  victory  at  Lawfeld.  Fontenoy 
and  Lawfeld  are  of  historic  interest  to  the 
Anglo-Celtic  peoples,  because  on  each  occasion 
the  English  infantry  fought  with  extra- 
ordinary courage  and  credit  against  superior 
forces  of  French,  and  on  each  the  victory 
was  won  for  the  latter  very  largely  by  the 
heroism  of  their  Irish  Brigade.  But  to  the 
Belgians  it  was  only  the  renewal  of  their  old 
misery.  The  French  occupied  the  country 
as  invaders  for  two  years,  and  thoroughly 
plundered  it  by  all  kinds  of  official  extortions. 
In  1748,  by  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  it  was 
given  back  to  Austria. 

The    experience    of    this    war    disinclined 


HISTORIC   SUBJECTION  111 

Austria  to  spend  money  or  take  trouble  over  a 
country  so  easily  lost  to  her.  Thenceforward 
the  Habsburgs  chiefly  valued  Belgium  as  a 
possible  asset  for  dynastic  bargaining.  They 
made  indeed  persistent,  though  unsuccessful 
efforts  to  exchange  it  for  Silesia  or  Bavaria. 
However,  in  the  Seven  Years  War  (1756-1763) 
save  for  one  small  raid,  it  escaped  fighting. 
This  singular  immunity  was  due  to  the  fact 
that,  for  the  first  time  for  centuries,  Austria 
and  France  were  in  alliance.  Moreover  the 
Empress  Maria  Theresa  appointed  as  governor 
for  the  greater  part  of  her  reign  a  decidedly 
sympathetic  ruler,  her  brother-in-law.  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine.  She  also  repudiated 
and  got  rid  of  the  pretensions  of  England  and 
Holland  to  strangle,  under  the  Treaties  of 
Ryswick  and  Utrecht,  the  trade  of  Belgium 
with  France.  Her  son  Joseph  II  went  fur- 
ther ;  he  took  advantage  of  the  war  made  by 
Holland  on  England  (at  the  time  of  the 
American  War  of  Independence)  to  turn  out 
the  Dutch  garrisons,  which  by  those  treaties 
were  entitled  to  occupy  the  Belgian  fortresses 
on  the  French  frontier.  Their  expulsion  was 
really  an  important  step  in  the  clearing  of 
Belgium  from  foreign  claims ;  though  as 
Joseph  II  in  order  to  secure  the  assent  of 
France  was  obliged  not  to  garrison  the  for- 
tresses  with   Austrians   or   Belgians   but  to 


112  BELGIUM 

dismantle  them  altogether,  the  immediate 
effect  was  to  facilitate  the  invasion  of  Belgium 
by  the  armies  of  the  French  Republic  ten 
years  later. 

Before  this  invasion  an  event  occurred, 
which  had  an  important  influence  on  the 
eventual  re-birth  of  Belgium  as  a  nation. 
This  was  the  Brabant  Revolution  of  1789-1790 
when  the  people  of  Brabant,  Flanders,  and 
Hainaut  rose  against  Austria,  expelled  the 
Austrian  garrisons,  and  set  up  a  "  United 
States  of  Belgium,"  which  lasted  for  a  good 
part  of  a  year.  Undoubtedly  the  success  then 
obtained  against  the  Austrians  encouraged 
the  successful  rising  against  the  Dutch  forty 
years  later.  But  the  Revolution  was  not  a 
handsome  affair  in  itself.  The  first  cause 
of  discontent  was  Joseph  II*s  admirable  and 
enlightened  Edict  of  Tolerance,  which  per- 
mitted the  private  exercise  of  their  religion 
to  all  Lutherans,  Calvinists,  and  Greek 
Christians  within  the  Austrian  dominions, 
and  made  them  eligible  for  public  offices. 
The  Emperor  went  on  to  decree  reforms 
abolishing  superfluous  convents,  and  establish- 
ing "  grand  seminaries "  at  Louvain  and 
Luxemburg,  through  which  all  candidates 
for  the  clergy  were  to  pass.  At  the  same 
time  he  attempted  changes  in  civil  administra- 
tion ;  but  it  was  not  these  which  aroused  the 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION  118 

revolt.  Three  centuries  of  severe  penalties 
on  iinorthodoxy  had  made  the  Belgians  an 
intensely  clerical  people.  The  Pope  had 
sanctioned  the  Edict  of  Tolerance,  but  they 
were  more  Catholic  than  the  Pope.  Their 
formal  appeal  was,  as  usual,  to  their  old 
charters,  and  particularly  to  the  "  Joyous 
Entry "  of  Wenceslas  (Duke  of  Brabant 
1356-1383),  which  was  the  great  charter  of 
Brussels,  Louvain,  and  theother  Brabanttowns. 
These  charters  were  granted  at  a  time  when 
Roman  Catholicism  was  the  only  known  form 
of  Christian  religion ;  and  it  was  comparatively 
easy  to  use  their  phrases  in  a  sense  adverse 
to  any  other. 

Begun  in  clericalism,  the  Revolution  speedily 
grew  into  oligarchy  and  tyranny.  Its  out- 
break was  successful  through  the  joint  efforts 
of  two  bodies — a  party  of  nobles  with  the 
Due  d'Arenberg  and  other  chiefs  of  the 
Belgian  a^stocracy  at  their  head,  and  a  more 
popular  party  headed  by  an  advocate,  Henri 
Van  der  Noot.  After  their  victory  the 
two  parties  started  quarrelling,  and  Van  der 
Noot,  a  "  tyrant  "  in  the  Greek  sense,  became 
a  sort  of  dictator.  The  whole  movement 
was  much  influenced  by  the  revolutionary 
events  in  Paris,  from  the  fall  of  the  Bastille 
onwards;  but  the  extremely  conservative 
Belgians  were  not  really  in  tune  with  Parisian 


114  BELGIUM 

aspirations.  Van  der  Noot  soon  made  him- 
self disliked ;  in  November  1790  the  Emperor 
Leopold,  who  had  succeeded  Joseph  II  on  the 
throne  of  Austria,  sent  an  army  forward ;  and 
it  reconquered  the  country  very  quickly 
with  but  little  resistance.  It  is  worth  noting 
that  in  1789  a  revolution  broke  out  also  in 
Li^ge,  still  outside  the  Belgian  territory.  The 
people  rose  against  their  Prince-Bishop,  and 
claimed  the  same  rights  as  the  French  revolu- 
tionists. Their  brief  success  was  ended  by 
Leopold's  army,  which  restored  the  Prince- 
Bishop. 

But  the  dominance  of  Austria  in  Belgium 
was  now  drawing  to  its  close.  In  1792  war 
broke  out  between  the  Habsburgs  and  the 
young  French  Republic.  Belgium  was  twice 
invaded,  and  in  the  autumn  the  French  under 
Dumouriez  won  the  battle  of  Jemmappes 
(November  6).  As  the  barrier  fortresses  had 
been  dismantled,  this  victory  gave  the  French 
the  country.  They  were  first  welcomed  as 
liberators ;  but  their  excesses  (they  set  up  the 
guillotine  at  Brussels  and  started  wholesale 
confiscations)  soon  alienated  the  Belgians. 
The  next  year  the  Austrians  reappeared, 
defeated  the  French  at  Neerwinden,  and 
won  everything  back.  In  1794  the  French 
invaded  Belgium  again,  and  the  Austrians 
decided  in  the  interests  of  their  strategy  as  a 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION  115 

whole  to  evacuate  it.  They  were  defeated  at 
Fleurus,  and  the  French  reconquered  both 
Belgium  and  Li6ge.  Fortunately  for  the 
Belgians  the  task  was  not  completed  till 
Robespierre  had  fallen  and  the  Reign  of  Terror 
was  over.  They  had  been  thrice  conquered  in 
three  years;  and  their  status  was  uncertain 
for  nearly  a  year  more,  during  which  they 
suffered  a  good  deal  of  confiscation  and 
squeezing;  but  in  1795  they  were  formally 
mcorporated,  with  Li^ge,  in  the  French 
Republic.  Their  time-honoured  constitutions 
and  charters,  which  (though  too  often  broken) 
were  in  principle  the  most  liberal  on  the 
Continent  before  1789,  were  ruthlessly  swept 
away. 

From  that  time  imtil  1814  the  French  were 
masters  of  Belgium,  which  shared  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  Directory,  the  Consulate,  and 
the  Empire.  The  new  rulers  conferred  one 
great  benefit;  they  saved  the  country  from 
becoming  the  "  cockpit  "  of  the  greatest  wars, 
which  till  then  the  world  had  known.  They 
introduced  the  Code  Napoleon,  which  the 
country  still  uses;  and  at  intervals  their 
administration,  and  still  more  the  personality 
of  Napoleon,  were  decidedly  popular.  More- 
over, they  opened  the  Schelde ;  though,  except 
during  the  two  brief  years  when  France  was 
at  peace  with  England,  this  was  practically 


116  BELGIUM 

nullified  by  the  blockade  of  the  English 
Fleet.  But  the  conscription  which  they  intro- 
duced was  intensely  disliked — in  1798  there 
was  a  desperate  revolt  of  the  rural  poor 
against  it,  the  so-called  "  Peasants'  War  " ; 
and  as  the  Napoleonic  struggles  imposed 
heavier  and  heavier  exactions  both  in  men 
and  money,  the  Emperor's  early  popularity 
(at  its  height  when  he  visited  the  country  in 
1803)  disappeared.  Yet  in  1813,  after  his 
defeat  at  Leipzig,  there  was  no  revolt  against 
him  in  Belgium  as  there  was  in  Holland. 
It  remained  for  the  Prussian  General 
Billow,  after  his  victory  at  Hoogstraeten 
(January  1814),  to  expel  Napoleon's  garrisons 
by  his  own  arms,  without  much  help  or  hin- 
drance from  the  Belgians.  It  is  clear  that  by 
this  time  they  had  little  enough  enthusiasm 
for  the  French — how  little  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  Napoleon  was  joined  by  less 
than  400  of  them  (out  of  all  his  Belgian  veter- 
ans) in  the  Hundred  Days  after  his  return  from 
Elba.  But  they  had  equally  little  enthusiasm 
for  the  Allies;  and  therein  events  justified 
them. 

The  statesmen  who  re -mapped  Europe  were 
firm  against  granting  Belgium  independence, 
fearing  that  it  would  mean  its  reabsorption 
by  France.  The  only  question  which  they 
discussed  was,  whether  the  country  should  be 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION         117 

given  back  to  Austria  or  added  to  Holland. 
The  Belgians  themselves,  partly  for  religious 
reasons,  partly  from  old  ties  with  the  Habs- 
burgs,  and  partly  from  that  long-developed 
antipathy  towards  the  Dutch  to  which  we 
called  attention  in  Chapter  III,  pleaded  for 
their  return  to  Austria.  There  was  no  Belgian 
party  desirous  of  union  with  Holland.  But 
Austria  did  not  much  want  a  possession 
to  which  she  had  no  longer  a  land  access ;  and 
both  Prussia  and  England,  especially  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  advocated  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  Holland  as  a  military  bulwark  against 
France.  Accordingly  on  July  81,  1814,  the 
Belgian  provinces  were  formally  handed  over  to 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  whom  the  Dutch  had 
made  their  Prince-Sovereign  the  year  before. 
The  arrangement  was  confirmed  by  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna,  and  made  to  include  Li6ge 
and  Luxemburg;  but  local  discontent  was 
so  acute,  especially  among  the  Belgian  clergy, 
that  there  might  have  been  a  rising  but  for 
Napoleon's  escape  from  Elba.  This  led  to 
the  occupation  of  Belgium  by  large  bodies 
of  British  and  German  troops;  and  the 
events  of  1815  preceding  and  following  the 
battle  of  Waterloo  removed  the  opportunity 
for  a  Belgian  popular  movement. 

The  new  Prince-Sovereign  was  proclaimed 
King    William    I    of     the     Netherlands    in 


118  BELGIUM 

March  1815.  His  first  business  was  to  raise 
troops  to  repel  Napoleon.  This  was  done 
with  fair  readiness  on  the  part  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Dutch  and  Belgian  regiments  were 
placed  under  the  supreme  command  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington;  and  both  at  Quatre 
Bras  and  at  Waterloo  (despite  a  legend  to  the 
contrary  long  current  in  England)  they  fought 
decidedly  well.  An  ever-memorable  addition 
was  made  to  the  long  list  of  historic  battles 
fought  on  Belgian  soil.  But  when  peace  was 
restored,  and  the  union  of  Belgium  and 
Holland  had  to  be  put  on  a  regular  footing,  the 
difficulties  of  the  artificial  union  decreed  by 
the  Powers  began  at  once.  Holland  had  in 
March  1814  adopted  a  Constitution.  It  was 
based  on  the  old  Dutch  laws  and  was,  among 
other  things,  strongly  Protestant.  A  Com- 
mission was  appointed  of  eleven  Dutch, 
eleven  Belgians,  and  two  representatives  for 
Luxemburg  to  broaden  this  into  a  Constitution 
of  the  whole  new  kingdom.  There  were  long 
discussions  on  religion,  on  the  site  of  the  new 
capital,  the  form  of  the  new  States-General 
or  Parliament,  and  the  number  of  members 
which  Holland  and  Belgium  should  have  in 
it  respectively.  William  I  was  essentially  a 
Dutch  King,  and  the  Dutch  felt  themselves 
on  the  top;  but  as  the  Belgians  had  50  per 
cent,  more  population,  a  constitution  giving 


HISTORIC   SUBJECTION         119 

them  fair  representation  must  have  reversed 
the  positions.  Eventually  the  Commission 
reported  in  favour  of  (1)  equality  and  tolera- 
tion for  all  creeds  throughout  the  kingdom; 
(2)  a  Two-Chamber  Parliament  in  which 
Holland  and  Belgium  wtic  to  have  an  equal 
{i.e.  disproportionate)  number  of  representa- 
tives; (3)  no  capital  was  specified,  but  the 
King  was  to  be  inaugurated  simultaneously 
at  Amsterdam  and  at  a  town  in  Belgium. 

A  Fundamental  Law  was  drafted  in  these 
terms,  and  submitted  at  the  same  time  to 
the  Dutch  States -General  and  the  Notables 
of  the  different  Belgian  provinces.  The 
Dutch  States-General  passed  it  unanimously. 
The  Belgian  Notables  rejected  it  by  a  large 
majority.  Their  rejection  was  partly,  though 
not  wholly,  due  to  unwillingness  to  legalise 
religious  toleration — the  motive  which  had 
caused  the  Brabant  Revolution,  and  which 
was  now  fiercely  championed  by  the  Bishop 
of  Ghent.  William  I  decided  to  get  over  this 
hostile  vote  by  "  cooking  "  it.  He  announced 
that  all  who  had  abstained  from  voting  should 
be  counted  as  voting  for  the  Law,  and  that  a 
number  of  the  votes  against  it  should  not 
count.  In  this  way  he  made  a  sham  majority 
which  deceived  nobody;  and  the  law  was 
declared  passed.  On  September  21,  1815, 
he    was    formally    inaugurated    as    King   at 


120  BELGIUM 

Brussels.  A  Cabinet  was  constituted,  con- 
sisting of  nine  Dutchmen  and  one  Belgian; 
and  also  the  new  Legislature — ^an  Upper 
Chamber  of  life-peers  nominated  by  the 
King,  and  a  Lower  Chamber  of  110  members 
(55  from  each  country)  elected  for  three  years 
by  the  Provincial  Councils.  But  the  Bishops 
were  unsubdued.  They  forbade  their  flocks 
to  take  the  oath,  and  thus  put  all  who  be- 
came members  of  either  Chamber  under  their 
ban.  This  ban  was  sensationally  enforced, 
until  it  was  successfully  defied  by  the  ex- 
Prince-Bishop  of  Li6ge,  who,  after  joining  the 
Upper  Chamber,  got  the  Pope  on  his  side  and 
became  Archbishop  of  MaUnes.  The  King 
was  then  emboldened  to  use  coercion;  the 
Bishop  of  Ghent  was  prosecuted,  fled  the 
country,  and  was  condemned  and  deposed  in 
his  absence;  and  for  a  time  the  agitation 
died  down. 

But  the  tendency  of  the  Dutch  to  treat  the 
Belgians  as  inferiors  remained,  and  was  given 
effect  by  the  Dutch  King.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant said  a  few  years  after  the  Union,  that 
of  those  holding  the  foremost  offices  in  the 
kingdom,  mihtary  or  civil,  139  were  Dutch 
and  only  80  Belgians.  This  would  have 
mattered  less,  had  the  Belgians  been  tradition- 
ally in  the  habit  of  looking  up  to  the  Dutch ; 
but  the  reverse  was  the  case.    They  knew 


HISTORIC  SUBJECTION  121 

themselves  more  numerous,  and  thought 
themselves  culturally  superior.  After  1820, 
the  Belgian  discontent  began  to  be  focussed 
in  the  representative  Chamber,  where  the 
eloquence  at  the  command  of  the  Belgian 
Opposition  was  very  superior  to  that  of  the 
Dutch  Government.  The  latter,  it  should  be 
noted,  was  not  strictly  parliamentary,  but 
was  an  emanation  from  the  King,  who  dis- 
owned the  doctrines  of  Ministerial  responsi- 
bility, and  had  them  carefully  kept  out  of  the 
Constitution.  In  this  way  the  situation  got 
steadily  worse,  until  in  1830  the  breach  came. 
Before  we  examine  this  in  our  next  chapter, 
and  follow  out  the  establishment  of  Belgian 
independence,  let  us  briefly  resume  the 
conclusions  which  were  to  be  drawn  from 
Belgium's  365  years*  experience  of  foreign 
domination.  History  had  performed  on  her 
a  remarkably  exhaustive  series  of  experi- 
ments. It  had  first  made  trial  of  her  pro- 
tection by,  and  subjection  to,  distant  non- 
contiguous Powers — the  two  greatest  of  their 
periods,  as  it  happened,  Spain  and  Austria. 
The  protection  had  proved  definitely  inade- 
quate— she  became  the  "  cockpit  of  Europe  " ; 
and  the  subjection  had  proved  definitely 
oppressive — Philip  II  might  be  an  historical 
accident,  but  the  more  regular  drawbacks  of 
Spanish  and  Austrian  rule  were  not  so.  Follow- 


122  BELGIUM 

ing  these  two  failures,  a  strange  symmetry 
of  fate  subjected  her  in  turn  to  the  two 
contiguous  Powers,  first  her  large  neighbour, 
France,  and  then  her  small  neighbour,  Hol- 
land. Here  the  protection  was  undoubtedly 
more  efficient;  and  the  subjection,  though 
galling,  might  in  either  case  have  disappeared 
in  time  by  a  process  of  national  amalgamation ; 
only  that  process  would  have  effaced  from 
the  life  of  Europe  one  of  its  rich  blooms  of 
national  individuality,  the  ancient  and  long- 
developed  nationality  of  the  Belgian  people. 
Partly  because  that  nationality  was  so  tena- 
ciously held  and  passionately  treasured  by 
those  who  possessed  it,  it  did  not  succumb; 
indeed,  through  all  the  stages  of  alien  rule 
and  oppression  one  many  trace  its  unity  and 
distinction  steadily  growing.  It  was  the 
Spaniards  who  really  made  Flanders  and 
Brabant  one ;  it  was  later,  under  them  and 
under  the  Austrians,  that  Hainaut  became  no 
less  integral  a  part  of  the  whole;  it  was  the 
French  who  completed  Belgium  by  destroy- 
ing the  separateness  of  Li^ge.  And  so  in 
1830  History  inaugurated  her  last  great 
experiment;  she  set  the  Belgians  finally  on 
their  own  feet  to  live  their  lives  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   BELGIAN 
INDEPENDENCE 

On  the  evening  of  August  25,  1830,  the 
Brussels  Opera  House  gave  a  performance  of 
Auber's  La  Muette  de  Portid.  When  the  hero 
in  the  piece  sang  the  famous  air  appealing  for 
revolt  and  liberty,  the  audience  were  so  moved 
that  they  rushed  into  the  streets,  looted  the 
gunsmiths'  shops,  and  started  a  revolution 
against  the  Dutch  then  and  there.  The  fire 
thus  kindled  was  never  put  out  until  it  had 
consumed  all  the  traces  of  Belgium's  long 
subjection,  and  left  her  an  independent 
sovereign  state. 

Revolutions,  says  Aristotle,  arise  on  slight 
occasions,  but  not  from  slight  causes.  The 
discontent  in  Belgium  had  grown  steadily  for 
half  a  generation.  It  had  two  roots — the 
personal  follies  and  tyrannies  of  the  Dutch 
King,  William  I,  and  the  national  inequality 
between  the  Dutch  and  Belgian  peoples.  In 
1830  the  Belgians  in  round  figures  numbered 
123 


124  BELGIUM 

3,900,000  (not  the  population  of  what  is 
now  Belgium,  but  of  what  was  then  con- 
sidered Belgium,  including  the  whole  of  Lim- 
burg  and  Luxemburg),  the  Dutch  2,300,000. 
Yet  out  of  eight  Ministers  of  State  only  one 
was  a  Belgian ;  out  of  219  higher  officials  at 
the  Ministries  of  the  Interior  and  of  War 
only  fourteen  were  Belgians ;  and  there  were 
only  288  Belgians  among  the  1967  officers 
of  the  army.  The  ordinance  of  1822,  making 
Dutch  the  sole  official  language  (though  till 
then  the  speeches  in  the  combined  Parliament 
were  almost  all  made  in  French),  disqualified 
the  whole  Walloon  population  from  official 
employment.  It  annoyed  the  Flemings 
scarcely  less,  because,  although  Flemish  and 
Dutch  are  written  alike,  the  difference  of 
pronunciation  made  the  one  unintelligible  to 
an  illiterate  speaker  of  the  other.  Further, 
by  a  set  of  educational  measures  William  I 
aimed  at  controlling  not  only  the  education 
of  lay  people,  but  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy.  He,  a  Protestant,  dared  repeat  al- 
most the  very  programme  which  had  brought 
the  Catholic  Joseph  II,  with  all  his  Imperial 
authority  and  Papal  sanction,  to  grief.  Lastly 
a  series  of  political  trials — those  of  Vander- 
straeten  in  1819  and  1823,  that  of  Hennequin 
in  1821,  those  of  Ducp6tiaux  and  De  Potter 
in  1828,  and  those  of  De  Potter,  Tielemans,  and 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE      125 

Bartels  in  1830 — had  thrown  into  sharp  relief 
the  despotism  of  the  King  and  the  people's 
sympathy  with  those  who  agitated  against  it. 
In  October  1829,  when  the  last  session  of  the 
States-G^eneral  of  the  United  Netherlands 
was  opened,  a  National  Petition  of  the  Belgian 
people  for  the  redress  of  their  grievances  was 
laid  before  it,  bearing  the  signatures  of  150,000 
heads  of  families,  i.  e.  of  practically  all  who 
could  sign  their  names.  The  list  included 
equally  Catholics  and  Liberals,  Flemings  and 
Walloons,  the  representatives  of  the  oldest 
Belgian  noble  families,  and  the  rising  leaders 
of  the  modem  movement. 

Just  as  the  Brabant  Revolution  of  1789 
took  fire  from  events  in  Paris  and  the  fall  of 
the  Bastille,  so  the  July  days,  which  overthrew 
the  French  Legitimist  monarchy  in  1830, 
gave  the  final  impulse  to  the  Belgians  in 
August.  Belgium  was  not  the  only  country 
in  Europe  which  caught  the  infection  of  that 
first  uprising  against  the  bonds  forged  by  the 
Congress  of  Vienna ;  but  it  was  the  only  one 
whose  revolt  was  a  permanent  success. 

The  Brussels  revolutionists  of  August  25, 
after  attacking  the  houses  of  unpopular 
Dutchmen  and  colliding  with  the  Dutch 
garrison  of  the  upper  towTi,  retired  to  the 
lower  town,  which  they  held.  A  Committee 
of  Regency  was  established  in  the  Hdtel  de 


126  BELGIUM 

Ville.  The  French  tricolor,  which  had  first 
been  hoisted,  was  replaced  by  the  old  Brabant 
tricolor,  which  is  now  the  Belgian  flag.  The 
other  chief  towns  followed  suit,  and  cooped 
their  Dutch  garrisons  within  the  citadels  and 
forts.  Some  weeks  of  negotiation  followed, 
during  which  the  Dutch  collected  troops  and 
the  Belgians  drilled  volunteers.  The  idea 
of  the  Committee  of  Regency  was  to  secure  a 
separate  administration  for  the  Belgian  pro- 
vinces under  the  Prince  of  Orange  (the  King's 
heir)  as  Viceroy.  The  Prince  visited  Brussels 
on  September  1;  and  had  he  shown  the 
requisite  tact  and  insight,  he  could  have 
secured  this  solution.  But  he  did  not. 
Things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and  regular 
hostilities  against  the  rebels  became  inevitable. 
On  September  23  a  Dutch  army  nearly 
10,000  strong,  with  many  guns,  under  Prince 
Frederick,  the  King's  younger  son,  attacked 
Brussels.  The  town  then  still  had  its  walls 
and  gates.  The  Dutch  assaulted  three  of  the 
latter,  whose  sites  are  still  familiar  points  in 
its  topography.  They  were  repulsed  at  the 
Porte  de  Flandres;  but  carried  the  Porte  de 
Schaerbeek  and  the  Porte  de  Louvain  by 
storm.  Their  main  force  entered  by  the  first 
of  these,  and  swept  along  the  Rue  Royale 
to  the  park,  which  lay,  as  it  still  lies,  in  front 
of  the  royal  palace.    The  other  force  from  the 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE      127 

Porte  de  Louvain  established  itself  in  the 
boulevard  not  far  from  the  Porte  de  Namur. 
They  thus  held  the  very  heart  of  the  upper 
town ;  but  they  could  hold  no  more,  because 
the  Belgian  volunteers  resisted  their  further 
progress  with  desperation.  The  approach  to 
the  Place  Royale  was  defended  by  a  strong 
barricade  with  a  cannon,  and  other  barricades 
blocked  all  the  streets  leading  to  the  lower 
town.  The  windows  of  the  houses  round  the 
park  and  the  roof  of  the  H6tel  Bellevue  were 
manned  by  Belgian  sharp-shooters.  On  the 
revolutionary  side  the  combatants  were  merely 
Brussels  citizens,  reinforced  notably  by  a 
band  of  300  volunteers  brought  from  Li6ge 
by  Charles  Rogier,  by  200  (with  the  poet-actor 
Jenneval,  author  of  the  *' Braban9onne ") 
from  Louvain,  and  by  others  from  various 
Walloon  towns.  Nevertheless  they  sustained 
the  unequal  combat  in  the  streets  for  three 
days.  Every  attempt  by  the  Dutch  troops 
to  make  progress  either  from  the  park  or  from 
the  boulevard  was  repulsed;  and  the  per- 
petual sniping  to  which  they  were  subjected 
caused  them  heavy  losses.  Einally  on  the 
night  of  September  26-27  Prince  Frederick, 
having  at  least  1500  killed  and  a  very  much 
larger  number  wounded,  evacuated  his  posi- 
tions and  marched  away  from  the  city  with 
his  whole  force,  a  defeated  man. 


128  BELGIUM 

This  historic  street-fight  proved  the  turning- 
point  in  the  revolution.  The  records  of  barri- 
cade fighting  in  the  European  capitals  during 
the  nineteenth  century  show  no  other  in- 
stance in  which  the  success  of  citizen  volun- 
teers over  regular  troops  was  so  marked,  or 
entailed  such  important  results.  The  Dutch, 
though  no  doubt  badly  led,  were  veteran 
soldiers.  The  Belgians  lost  some  600  killed, 
who  were  buried  in  the  Place  des  Martyrs, 
ever  since  marked  by  a  well-known  monument. 
With  this  price  they  were  freed.  Their 
capital  was  never  attacked  by  the  Dutch 
again. 

It  would  take  us  too  long  to  trace  in  detail 
the  events  which  intervened  between  this 
victory  and  the  election  of  Prince  Leopold  as 
King  of  the  Belgians  on  June.  4  in  the  follow- 
ing year  (1831).  The  first  step  was  to  form 
a  Provisional  Government.  Its  members 
were :  Baron  d'Hooghvorst,  the  commander 
of  the  volunteers;  Charles  Rogier  of  Li6ge, 
afterwards  Belgian  Prime  Minister;  Count 
F61ix  de  M^rode,  the  leader  of  the  Belgian 
Catholics ;  Van  de  Weyer,  afterwards  Belgian 
Minister  in  London  and  an  intimate  friend  of 
Queen  Victoria ;  G^endebien,  the  leader  of  the 
French  party  among  the  revolutionists ;  Joly ; 
and     De    Potter.      This     Government    on 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE         129 

October  4  declared  Belgium  an  independent 
state,  and  announced  its  intention  of  drafting 
a  Constitution  and  convening  a  National 
Congress  to  consider  and  pass  it.  The  Con- 
stitution was  drafted  by  a  Commission  ap- 
pointed on  October  6,  which  on  October  12 
decided  in  favour  of  a  constitutional  monarchy. 
The  Congress,  which  met  on  November  10, 
1830,  ratified  this  decision  on  November  22. 
The  decree  of  the  Congress,  which  finally 
established  the  Constitution  as  law,  was  voted 
on  February  7,  1831. 

It  has  been  said  with  truth  of  the  Belgian 
revolutionists  that  after  the  days  of  Sep- 
tember 23-25  they  formed  a  more  adequate 
conception  of  their  constitutional  than  of 
their  military  tasks.  Excellent  decrees  met 
all  the  civil  needs  of  the  moment;  and  the 
Constitution  ultimately  evolved  has,  as  we 
shall  see  in  our  next  chapter,  done  great  credit 
to  its  framers.  Unfortunately  there  was  no 
one  to  bestow  equal  care  on  the  military 
preparations.  The  Belgians  won  two  small 
victories  over  the  Dutch  in  October,  and  cleared 
King  William's  troops  out  of  all  the  territory 
then  considered  Belgium,  excepting  the 
citadels  of  Antwerp,  Maestricht,  and  Luxem- 
burg. But  Holland  remained  a  considerable 
military  power;   and  by  neglecting  to  create 


180  BELGIUM 

a  regular  army  to  cope  with  it,  the  Belgians 
exposed  themselves  to  eventual  retaliation. 
In  the  following  year  this  came  about;  and 
though  Belgium  was  saved  from  reconquest 
by  the  attitude  of  the  Powers,  and  the  actual 
intervention  of  a  French  army,  she  was 
penalised  by  losing  important  territories. 
These  were  the  portion  of  Zeeland  south  of 
the  Schelde,  commonly  called  Dutch  Flanders 
(giving  the  Dutch  complete  control  over  the 
mouth  of  that  river) ;  a  portion  of  the  province 
of  Limburg,  including  the  towns  of  Maestricht 
and  Venlo ;  and  the  portion  of  Luxemburg, 
which  now  forms  the  Grand  Duchy.  They 
were  all  territories  which  had  joined  success- 
fully in  the  revolt  against  Holland,  and  desired 
incorporation  in  Belgium. 

Already  on  November  4  a  Conference  of  the 
Powers  to  consider  the  Belgian  situation  had 
met  in  London,  and  Van  de  Weyer  had  been 
sent  there  to  represent  Belgian  interests. 
The  Conference  tried  at  once  to  dictate  to  the 
belligerents  by  means  of  protocols,  which 
neither  the  Belgian  Congress  nor  the  Dutch 
King  at  first  welcomed.  But  in  the  course 
of  December,  on  the  Belgians  proving  more 
amenable  than  William  I,  the  Conference 
veered  to  their  side.  A  protocol  of  December 
20  (carried  on  the  motion  of  the  British  dele- 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE        131 

gate,  Lord  Palmerston)  declared  Belgium  an 
"  Independent  Power."  Although  this  pro- 
tocol was  accepted  by  neither  side  (the 
Belgians  disliked  it  because  it  deprived  them 
of  Luxemburg),  it  marked  a  definite  stage. 
Henceforth  the  question  was  not  whether 
Belgium  should  form  a  separate  kingdom,  but 
who  should  be  its  new  King,  and  what  should 
be  its  boundaries. 

The  position,  as  it  had  presented  itself  to 
the  Belgian  revolutionists,  was  something  like 
this.  If  they  set  up  a  Republic  (as  was  the 
wish  of  some,  especially  De  Potter),  all  the 
potentates  of  Europe,  from  the  Tsar  Nicholas  I 
to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  would  combine  to 
crush  them.  If  they  attempted  the  re- 
annexation  of  the  country  to  France  (as  a 
small  but  active  party  desired,  including 
Gendebien,  of  the  Provisional  Government, 
and  Surlet  de  Chokier,  President  of  the 
National  Congress),  the  other  four  Powers 
would  make  war.  They  were  obliged,  there- 
fore, after  the  hope  of  a  Viceroyalty  dis- 
appeared, to  decide  for  (a)  monarchy;  (b) 
independence.  But  much  depended  on  the 
choice  of  the  monarch.  Two  possible  candi- 
dates came  first  in  the  minds  of  the  diplo- 
matists, the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  Due  de 
Nemours,  the  latter  being  the  younger  son  of 


182  BELGIUM 

the  new  French  King,  Louis-Philippe.  If  the 
Prince  of  Orange  were  chosen,  Belgium  might, 
at  least  in  regard  to  its  foreign  policy,  be  con- 
sidered as  re-annexed  to  Holland.  If  on  the 
other  hand  the  Due  de  Nemours  were  chosen, 
it  might  in  the  same  degree  be  considered  as 
re-annexed  to  France. 

Louis-Philippe  was  represented  at  the 
London  Conference  by  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  diplomatists,  the  veteran  Talleyrand. 
England  and  Prussia,  to  whose  wish  for  a 
buffer  against  France  the  union  of  Holland 
and  Belgium  had  been  due,  naturally  favoured 
the  candidature  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
Talleyrand  cleverly  supported  it,  knowing 
that  it  must  fail,  and  hoping  to  get  the  Due 
de  Nemours  finally  adopted  as  the  only 
alternative.  On  November  24  the  Belgian 
Congress  formally  excluded  all  candidatures 
from  the  House  of  Orange-Nassau.  On 
February  3,  1831,  after  endless  intrigues,  it 
decided  to  offer  the  crown  to  the  Due 
de  Nemours.  But  the  Due  only  obtained 
97  votes  out  of  192;  and  partly  for  this 
reason,  but  still  more  perhaps  because  the 
English  Ministry  resolved  unanimously  on 
February  4  to  declare  war  on  France  if  the 
offer  were  accepted,  King  Louis-Philippe  de- 
clined it  on  his  son's  behalf.     Intrigues  still 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE        133 

persisted;  Belgian  interests  continued  to 
suffer;  as  a  makeshift  Surlet  de  Chokier  was 
appointed  Regent.  It  was  not  till  April  that 
his  second  Ministry  approached  the  Prince 
Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  with  a  tenta- 
tive offer.  On  June  4,  1831,  the  Prince  was 
elected  by  the  National  Congress;  and  on 
June  21  he  was  solemnly  inaugurated  at 
Brussels  as  King  of  the  Belgians. 

For  the  final  settlement  of  its  international 
status,  the  country  owed  much  to  Leopold  I. 
Here  we  may  note  that  he  was  forty  years  of 
age,  and  had  for  fifteen  years  been  looked 
upon  as  an  English  prince,  in  virtue  of  his 
marriage  in  1816  to  Princess  Charlotte,  the 
heir  to  the  British  throne.  Before  this 
marriage  he  had  shown  both  military  and 
diplomatic  ability;  andjie  was  regarded  by 
many,  including  Napoleon,  as  the  handsomest 
prince  of  his  time.  After  the  Princess  Char- 
lotte's death  in  1817,  the  Prince,  enjoying  an 
English  pension  of  £50,000  a  year  and  residing 
at  Claremont,  was  a  conspicuous  figure  at  the 
court  of  his  father-in-law.  He  arranged  the 
marriage  of  his  sister  with  the  Duke  of  Kent ; 
and  when  the  Duke  died  leaving  the  Duchess 
and  her  young  daughter  (afterwards  Queen 
Victoria)  almost  totally  unprovided  for,  the 
Prince  took  them  into  his  house,  which  for 


184  BELGIUM 

many  years  was  the  future  Queen's  home. 
In  1830  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  throne  of 
Greece,  but  declined  at  the  last  moment,  as 
he  could  not  get  from  the  Powers  what  he 
thought  sufficiently  good  terms.  It  was 
probably  due  to  this  circumstance  that  his 
name  was  not  put  forward  earlier  for  the 
throne  of  Belgium,  as  his  person  was  well 
regarded  by  all  the  courts  except  Berlin  and 
Paris.  He  eventually  won  over  the  latter 
by  promising  to  marry  (as  he  subsequently 
did)  Louis-Philippe's  daughter,  the  Princess 
Louise.  By  this  marriage  of  a  French  princess 
to  a  quasi -English  prince  the  conflict  of  French 
and  English  interests  in  Belgium  appeared  to 
be  neutralised. 

The  Prince's  first  business,  before  finally 
accepting  the  throne,  was  to  get  the  question 
of  Belgian  territory  settled  to  the  satisfaction 
of  his  future  subjects.  The  London  Con- 
ference had  issued  two  protocols  on  January  20 
and  27,  which  laid  down  (1)  that  Belgium 
should  be  a  perpetually  neutral  state;  (2)  that 
the  territories  of  Holland  should  be  all  which 
belonged  to  the  Dutch  Republic  in  1790,  and 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Luxemburg  should  also 
be  an  appanage  of  the  House  of  Orange; 
(3)  that  Belgium  should  be  charged  with 
16/31  of  the  National  Debt  of  the  now  divided 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE       135 

kingdom.  These  protocols  were  accepted 
by  Bang  William,  but  refused  by  the  Belgians. 
They  did  not  desire  any  of  the  three  points 
which  we  have  mentioned;  but  their  great 
objection  was  to  the  second.  Its  effect  was 
to  rob  them  of  "  Dutch  Flanders  "  (which  con- 
trolled the  Schelde),  of  the  towns  Maestricht 
and  Venlo  and  the  strip  of  Limburg  sur- 
rounding them,  and  also  of  the  Grand  Duchy — 
deprivations  which  seemed  the  harder, 
because  by  their  own  arms  and  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  inhabitants  they  had  ex- 
pelled the  Dutch  from  the  whole  of  these 
areas,  excepting  the  citadels  of  Maestricht 
and  Luxemburg.  When  the  Prince  intervened 
there  was  a  complete  deadlock  between  the 
Powers  and  the  Belgians  on  these  points. 
Leopold  skilfully  disposed  of  it  by  persuading 
the  London  Conference  to  supersede  its  proto- 
cols by  a  declaration  in  Eighteen  Articles, 
whereby  the  matter  in  dispute  and  other 
possible  bargains  between  Belgium  and 
Holland  were  left  open  to  be  negotiated  be- 
tween the  new  King  and  King  William  with 
the  good  oflfices  of  the  Great  Powers.  After 
this  considerable  diplomatic  victory  the  Prince 
was  received  by  the  Belgians  with  enthusiasm, 
and  took  over  the  monarchy. 

But  his  first  success  was  short-lived.    The 


136  BELGIUM 

removal  of  the  territorial  decision  from  the 
London  Conference  to  the  two  states  pri- 
marily concerned  would  have  benefited  Belgium 
had  she  kept  herself  on  a  military  equality 
with  Holland.  But  she  had  not.  What  was 
left  of  the  volunteer  armies  that  had  expelled 
the  Dutch  had  during  these  months  of  intrigue 
and  delay  sunk  to  the  lowest  depths  of  in- 
efficiency. King  William,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  spent  the  year  consolidating  his  army. 
He  refused  to  recognise  the  Eighteen  Articles, 
declared  the  armistice  at  an  end,  and  on 
August  2,  twelve  days  after  Leopold  had 
ascended  the  throne,  he  invaded  Belgium. 
In  this  difficult  situation  Leopold  I  displayed 
both  military  ability  and  personal  courage, 
but  his  defeat  was  inevitable.  The  Belgians 
fought  bravely,  but  were  entirely  out- 
numbered. On  the  breaking- off  of  the 
armistice  the  King  had  promptly  appealed 
for  the  assistance  of  a  French  army;  and 
this  fortunately  arrived  before  the  Dutch  had 
taken  Brussels,  though  not  till  they  had 
taken  Lou  vain.  The  Dutch  then  retired  from 
Belgium ;  but  their  object  was  accomplished  : 
the  Eighteen  Articles  were  dead. 

The  promptitude  and  success  of  the  French 
intervention  alarmed  the  other  Powers,  espe- 
cially   England,   and    revived    their    Dutch 


BELGIAN   INDEPENDENCE       137 

sympathies.  On  October  15  a  protocol  of 
Twenty-four  Articles  was  drafted  in  place 
of  the  eighteen,  which  took  from  Belgium 
the  whole  of  the  areas  in  dispute,  except  the 
district  ot  Arlon.  Under  threat  of  invasion 
by  a  German  army  the  Belgians  were  forced 
to  accept  this ;  and  on  November  15  Belgium, 
France,  and  England  signed  a  treaty  incorpor- 
ating the  articles,  to  which  Russia,  Prussia, 
and  Austria  soon  afterwards  adhered.  But 
Holland  still  stood  out.  King  William  re- 
fused to  evacuate  the  points  which  he  held, 
especially  the  citadej_  of  Antwerp.  In 
Secember  a  French  Army  advanced  for  the 
second  time,  and  captured  this  citadel  after 
a  brave  defence  by  the  Dutch  general,  Chass6 : 
but  other  Belgian  positions  remained  in  Dutch 
hands,  and  the  Belgians  in  return  declined  to 
evacuate  the  areas  of  Limburg  and  Luxem- 
burg assigned  to  King  William.  A  Conven- 
tion signed  in  May  1832  brought  about  a 
temporary  armistice  on  this  footing.  So  the 
affair  dragged  on  for  nearly  six  years,  till  in 
1838  King  William  suddenly  gave  his  adhesion 
to  the  1831  treaty.  The  Conference  of 
London  met  again  to  see  what  changes,  if 
any,  were  rendered  advisable  by  lapse  ol 
time.  King  Leopold  secured  for  Belgium  a 
large  reduction  in  its  payment  to  the  Nether- 

E  2 


138  BELGIUM 

lands  Debt;  but  he  failed  to  get  territorial 
changes.  The  final  treaty  was  signed  in 
London  on  April  18,  1839,  when  the  disputed 
areas,  which  the  Belgians  had  held  for  over 
eight  years,  were  very  reluctantly  surrendered. 
The  treaty  of  1839,  which  unlike  that  of 
1831  was  ratified  by  all  the  Governments 
concerned,  regulated  the  external  position  of 
Belgium  down  to  August  3,  1914.  It  is  the 
*'  scrap  of  paper,"  of  which  so  much  has  been 
heard  since  that  date.  The  clause  imposing 
perpetual  neutrality  on  Belgium  with  the 
guarantee  of  the  five  Great  Powers  was  taken 
over  from  the  treaty  of  1831.  It  had  been 
imposed  on  her  against  her  will,  at  the  in- 
stance chiefly  of  Prussia  and  England,  who 
desired  above  all  to  maintain  her  as  a  bulwark 
against  France.  There  is  an  interesting  pas- 
sage in  Queen  Victoria's  Letters  on  this 
point.  The  Queen  writes  (February  12,  1856) 
to  Leopold  I — 

Belgium  of  its  own  accord  bound  itself 
to  remain  neutral,  and  its  very  existence 
is  based  upon  that  neutrality,  which  the 
other  Powers  have  guaranteed  and  are 
bound  to  maintain  if  Belgium  keeps  her 
engagements. 

The  King  promptly  replies  (February  15, 
1856)— 


BELGIAN   INDEPENDENCE       139 

This  neutrality  was  in  the  real  interest 
of  this  country,  but  our  good  Congress 
here  did  not  wish  it;  it  was  impost  upon 
them. 

Historically  the  King  was  right,  and  it  is 
probable  that  but  for  this  compulsion  Belgium 
would  have  come  into  the  French  orbit. 
France  was  the  only  Power  which  wished  in 
the  first  instance  to  see  her  liberated  from 
Holland;  and  while  this  desire  was  in  part 
motived  by  natural  sympathy  between  the 
Parisian  and  Belgian  revolutionists,  what 
weighed  more  with  Louis-Philippe  and  Talley- 
rand was  the  hope  of  reacquiring  the  strategic 
control  over  the  Low  Countries,  which  had 
been  enjoyed  by  Napoleon. 

The  only  time  during  eighty-three  years 
at  which  it  seemed  seriously  threatened  was 
in  1870.  As  early  as  1852,  on  the  morrow 
of  his  Coup  (VEtat,  Napoleon  III  (then  the 
Prince-President  of  France)  signed  a  decree 
annexing  Belgium ;  but  he  withdrew  it  before 
publication  at  the  instance  of  the  Due  de 
Morny.  The  rise  of  Prussia  in  the  'sixties, 
following  that  of  France  in  the  'fifties,  revived 
a  possibility  that  Belgium  might  be  fought 
over  or  partitioned  or  bargained  away  between 
her  great  neighbours.  Indeed  in  1870  Bis- 
marck  published    a   draft  treaty,   three  or 


140  BELGIUM 

four  years  old,  and  in  the  handwriting  of 
Napoleon  Ill's  ambassador,  whereby  France 
was  to  annex  her.  This  publication,  on  the  eve 
of  the  Franco-German  hostilities,  so  alarmed 
the  British  Government  that  it  at  once  in- 
creased its  army  and  invited  Paris  and  Berlin 
to  sign  short  treaties  reaffirming  the  neutrality 
clause  of  1839.  Bismarck  promptly  assented ; 
for  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  seemed  then, 
as  it  always  had,  to  be  an  anti-French,  not  a 
French  interest;  and  the  assent  of  Napoleon 
Ill's  Government  followed  later.  One  should 
note  that  the  treaties  of  1870  in  no  way 
superseded  that  of  1839;  on  the  contrary, 
they  strengthened  it,  by  showing  in  a  test 
case  that  both  the  contiguous  Powers  would 
respect  its  principle,  and  England  would 
enforce  such  respect.  After  Sedan  no  further 
risk  of  its  violation  appeared  till  early  in  the 
twentieth  century,  when  the  construction  by 
Prussia  of  strategic  railways  towards  the 
Belgian  frontier  first  presaged  the  storm  which 
broke  in  1914. 

The  Belgians,  though  at  first  undesirous  of 
neutrality,  have  long  come  to  value  it  as  the 
best  safeguard  against  their  again  becoming 
the  "  cockpit  of  Europe."  The  expansion  of 
their  foreign  ambitions  in  recent  years,  and  the 
annexation  of  an  African  Empire  eighty -fold 


BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE       141 

larger  than  their  European  territory,  have  not 
altered  this  sentiment.  The  policy  of  their 
Kings  a«id  of  their  wisest  statesmen  has  been 
to  keep  alive  the  guarantee  of  the  Powers, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  build  up  such  means 
of  defence  as  would  either  deter  any  possible 
aggressor,  or  at  least  make  an  example  of 
him  sufficient  to  deter  others.  Whether  the 
Belgian  resistance  of  1914,  heroic  as  it  was, 
has  sufficed  for  this  purpose,  it  remains 
for  history  to  show.  It  would  have  been 
more  effective  but  for  two  causes:  one,  the 
long  resistance  of  a  Germanophile  wing  within 
the  Catholic  party  (led  by  M.  Woeste)  to  the 
strengthening  of  the  army;  the  other  an 
excessive  reliance  on  forts.  To  the  first  it  was 
due  that  the  first  modem  law  which  gave 
Belgium  an  army  at  all  corresponding  to  her 
population  was  only  passed  in  1913,  and  its 
effects  were  only  beginning  to  be  felt  when 
war  broke  out.  The  reliance  on  fortresses 
was  doubtless  well  advised  twenty,  or  perhaps 
ten  years  ago ;  but  unfortunately  the  develop- 
ment of  modem  artillery  had  made  them  out 
of  date  by  the  time  that  their  efficacy  was  put 
to  the  test. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   BELGIAN   CONSTITUTION 

The  Belgian  Constitution  has  been  often 
and  justly  admired.  It  is  the  oldest  written 
Constitution  still  in  force  on  the  Continent, 
except  the  Dutch;  and  has  not,  like  the 
latter,  been  modified  past  recognition.  The 
success  of  its  authors  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  they  reduced  fancy  innovations  to  a 
minimum,  and  built  as  far  as  possible  on  exist- 
ing bases.  These  bases  were  the  charters  and 
privileges  of  the  different  Belgian  provinces 
and  cities,  which  dated  from  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  had  been  carefully  conserved,  however 
often  infringed,  throughout  the  long  episodes 
of  Spanish  and  Austrian  oppression.  The 
most  important  for  modern  purposes  was  the 
Joyous  Entry  of  Duke  Wenceslas  of  Brabant 
(1356),  which  in  the  Austrian  period,  with  the 
steady  preponderance  of  Brabant  as  the 
metropolitan  province,  came  to  be  regarded 
as  something  like  the  Magna  Charta  of  the 
whole  country.  We  have  already  seen  how 
142 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    143 

the  clerical  agitators  who  brought  about  the 
Brabant  Revolution  in  1789  took  their  stand 
on  certain  of  its  provisions.  These  provi- 
sions, which  were  held  to  preclude  toleration 
for  other  religions  than  the  Roman  Catholic, 
were  among  the  few  which  were  drastically 
superseded  and  swept  away  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1831. 

On  the  top  of  the  Joyous  Entry  the  Belgian 
Constitution-makers  erected  a  system  of  con- 
stitutional monarchy  modelled  on  the  Eng- 
land of  their  day  and  the  France  of  Louis 
Philippe.  The  machinery  which  they  estab- 
lished, of  a  King,  a  Senate,  and  a  Chamber 
of  Representatives,  has  only  provoked  revo- 
lutionary discontent  or  required  fundamental 
change  in  respect  of  a  single  feature,  the 
franchise.  Very  noticeable  is  the  organic 
relation  which  was,  and  is  still,  preserved 
between  the  central  power  of  the  State  and 
the  local  councils  of  the  provinces;  which 
in  their  modern  form  still  represent,  with  no 
great  breach  of  historic  continuity,  the  pro- 
vincial States-General,  that  came  down  from 
the  later  Burgundian  times. 

The  legislative  power  is  wielded  by  the 
King,  the  Chamber,  and  the  Senate  collec- 
tively. The  initiative  in  legislation  may  be 
taken  by  any  of  the  three ;  but  laws  regarding 


144  BELGIUM 

finance  or  the  annual  contingent  for  the  army 
must  first  be  voted  by  the  Chamber.  Legis- 
lation may  not  contravene  the  Constitution, 
but  is  otherwise  unlimited  in  scope.  Changes 
of  the  Constitution  can  only  be  effected  by  a 
special  procedure.  First  the  two  Chambers 
must  pass  a  resolution,  declaring  that  there 
is  reason  for  changing  a  particular  article  in 
the  Constitution.  By  this  vote  both  are  ipso 
facto  completely  dissolved,  and  a  new  Parlia- 
ment must  be  elected;  which  thereupon  has 
the  right  to  change,  if  it  pleases,  the  article 
in  question.  But  the  change  cannot  be  dis- 
cussed without  a  quorum  of  two-thirds,  nor 
carried  without  a  two-thirds  majority  of 
those  present. 

Ministers  have  a  right  of  access  to  both 
Chambers ;  and  either  can  demand  their  pre- 
sence. They  are  entitled  to  be  heard  on 
demand.  A  Minister  may  not,  however,  vote 
or  participate  informally  in  a  discussion,  un- 
less he  is  otherwise  a  member  of  the  particular 
Chamber  concerned.  The  sittings  of  both 
Chambers  are  public,  and  members  and 
senators  are  immune  from  prosecution  for 
votes  or  speeches. 

The  executive  power  is  vested  in  the 
Crown,  which,  as  in  England,  can  only  act 
through  responsible  Ministers.     All  the  King's 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    145 

acts  must  be  countersigned  by  a  Minister 
who  makes  himself  responsible  thereby.  The 
number  of  Ministries  is  now  eleven.  They 
are:  (1)  War;  (2)  Interior;  (3)  Finance; 
(4)  Foreign  Affairs;  (5)  Science  and  Art;  (6) 
Justice;  (7)  Agriculture  and  Public  Works; 
(8)  Railways;  (9)  Marine,  Posts,  and  Tele- 
graphs; (10)  Industry  and  Labour;  (11) 
Colonies.  The  last  has  only  existed  since 
1908,  when  the  independent  Congo  Free 
State  (of  which  the  then  King  of  the  Belgians, 
Leopold  II,  was  sovereign)  was  transferred 
to  Belgium  as  a  colony;  and  some  of  the 
others  are,  as  separate  Ministries,  of  even 
more  recent  origin.  The  Cabinet  may,  as  is 
usual  on  the  Continent,  include  other  Ministers 
without  portfolios. 

The  franchise  set  up  for  the  Chamber  in 
1831  was  an  extremely  narrow  one,  based  on 
the  amount  paid  by  each  citizen  in  taxation. 
The  urban  electorate,  composed  of  men  pay- 
ing seventy  florins  in  taxes,  was  particu- 
larly unrepresentative.  In  1848  the  Liberal 
Ministry  reduced  the  qualification  to  twenty 
florins  (they  could  reduce  it  thus  far,  but  not 
further,  without  changing  the  text  of  the 
Constitution),  and  on  this  still  very  narrow 
basis  all  elections  were  held  down  to  1894. 
On  October  14  in  that  year  the  first  election 


146  BELGIUM 

was  held  on  the  present  basis,  which  gives  at 
least  one  vote  to  every  male  citizen  who  has 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-five  and  been 
domiciled  one  year  in  the  same  commune 
(the  commune  is  the  smallest  area  of  local 
government).  The  consequence  in  1894  was 
to  increase  the  number  of  voters  from  137,772 
to  1,350,891 ;  but  its  effect  was  and  is  con- 
siderably modified  by  the  simultaneous  grant 
of  additional  votes  to  certain  of  the  electors. 
This  so-called  plural-voting  system  gives  one 
additional  vote  to  every  father  of  a  family, 
aged  35  or  more,  who  pays  5  francs  in  direct 
taxes,  and  to  every  man  over  25  drawing  100 
francs  income  from  Belgian  funds  or  owning 
land  with  a  cadastral  revenue  of  48  francs. 
The  "  cadastral  revenue  "  is  an  assessment 
of  land  (including  buildings),  on  which  the 
land-tax  is  levied;  it  was  made  in  1858,  on 
the  basis  of  the  actual  letting  value  during 
the  previous  decade  and  has  not  been  altered 
since.  Two  other  extra  votes  are  given  to 
holders  of  certain  diplomas  and  certificates 
of  learning  and  to  members  of  certain  pro- 
fessions; but  no  one  can  cast  more  than 
three  votes  altogether.  As  a  result,  the 
1,850,891  voters  of  1894  cast  2,085,605  votes. 
The  plural  voting  system  is  so  important  a 
matter  of  controversy  in  modern  Belgium  that 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    147 

it  is  necessary  to  form  a  clear  arithmetical 
idea  of  it.  This  may  be  obtained  from  the 
adjoining  table,  showing  for  the  year  of 
registration  1912-1913  the  number  of  electors 
and  the  number  of  plural  votes  for  both  the 
Senate  and  the  Chamber. 


Senate. 

Chamber. 

No.  of  voters 

1,483,994 

1,746,666 

No.  with  1  vote  . 

761,864 

1,005,094 

No.  with  2  votes 

402,444 

412,721 

No.  with  3  votes 

319,686 

327,851 

Total  number  of  votes 

2,525,810 

2,814,089 

Excess  of  votes  over  voters 

1,941,816 

1,068,423 

Excess  per  cent. 

70 

61 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  plural  voter  wields 
more  power  over  the  Senate  than  over  the 
Chamber.  The  reason  for  this  is  the  absence 
of  young  voters  from  the  Senatorial  electorate ; 
its  result  is  to  help  make  the  Senate  the  more 
conservative  body.  Even  in  the  case  of  the 
Chamber  the  effect  of  the  system  must  be 
very  great.  It  will  be  seen  that  on  the  above 
figures  the  propertyless  class  of  manual 
workers,  who  have  but  one  vote  apiece,  were 
nearly  59  per  cent,  of  the  voters,  but  had 
less  than  36  per  cent,  of  the  voting  power; 
in  other  words,  they  were  reduced  from  a 
decisive  majority  to  a  weak  minority.     The 


148  BELGIUM 

system  particularly  favours  the  numerous 
clergy,  both  secular  and  regular,  and  the 
small  landowners  in  the  peasant  districts; 
and  for  these  reasons  is  generally  thought 
to  have  been  of  most  advantage  to  the 
Catholic  party.  The  class  most  handicapped 
by  it  is  that  of  the  workmen  in  the  towns; 
and  it  is  the  party  most  dependent  on  them, 
the  Socialists,  who  have  led  the  agitation 
for  sweeping  the  plural  votes  away. 

There  are  twenty-nine  large  constituencies 
for  the  Chamber;  and  each  member  must 
represent  a  quota  of  not  less  than  40,000 
inhabitants.  For  the  directly  elected  portion 
of  the  Senate  there  are  twenty-one  large  con- 
stituencies; and  each  of  the  elected  Senators 
must  represent  not  less  than  80,000.  The 
Senatorial  electorate  differs  from  that  for  the 
Chamber  in  that  it  is  confined  to  voters  aged 
thirty  years  and  upwards.  An  additional  con- 
tingent of  Senators  is  that  separately  elected 
by  the  Councils  of  the  provinces;  which  are 
each  entitled  to  appoint  two  Senators  if  their 
population  is  less  than  half  a  million,  three  if 
it  exceeds  half  a  million,  and  four  if  it  exceeds 
one  million.  The  Senate  is  therefore  a  com- 
posite body,  chosen  partly  by  an  electorate 
from  which  the  younger  voters  for  the 
Chamber   are    excluded,   and   partly   by   the 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION      149 

Provincial  Councils.  It  contains  no  heredi- 
tary members  except  the  sons,  or  the  heir- 
apparent,  of  a  king;  who  acquire  meniber- 
ship  at  eighteen,  and  the  right  to  vote  at 
twenty-five.  We  should  add,  that  every 
elector  qualified  to  vote  is  also  compelled  by 
law  under  penalty  to  do  so;  that  voting 
takes  place  in  the  communes,  whose  Burgo- 
masters and  ilcTuvins  annually  revise  the 
lists;  that  the  constituencies  polled  are  all 
polled  on  the  same  day;  that  the  ballot  is 
secret;  and  that  elections  are  very  rarely 
disputed  or  invalidated. 

By  a  law  of  December  29,  1899,  the  Con- 
stitution was  further  modified  in  order  to 
establish  a  system  of  Proportional  Repre- 
sentation. Belgium  was  the  first  country  in 
Europe  to  adopt  Proportional  Representation 
of  any  kind.  The  system  chosen  was  one  in- 
vented by  the  late  Prof.  D'Hondt  of  Ghent, 
and  may  be  termed  the  "  party  list  "  system. 
It  assumes  the  existence  of  organised  parties ; 
and  provides  facilities  for  each  party  to  put 
forward,  in  the  large  constituencies  which  are 
part  of  the  plan,  not  merely  isolated  candi- 
dates, but  lists  of  candidates  arranged  in 
the  party's  order  of  preference.  There  are 
no  by-elections;  each  party  provides  for 
possible     vacancies     by    dividing     its    list 


150  BELGIUM 

into  two  sections  known  as  "  titular "  and 
"  supplementary  "  candidates.  The  vote  is 
recorded  not  by  making  a  cross,  as  in  England, 
but  by  blacking  out  a  white  spot  in  the  centre 
of  a  black  square.  Such  a  square  stands  on 
the  ballot  paper  at  the  head  of  every  party 
list,  and  also  beside  every  individual  name. 
The  elector  has  four  alternatives.     He  may — 

(1)  Black  the  square  at  the  head  of  his 
party  list.  In  this  case  he  votes  for  the 
whole  list  and  its  order. 

(2)  Black  the  square  beside  the  name  of  a 
"  supplementary  "  candidate.  Here  he  votes 
for  the  whole  list,  but  for  modifying  the  order 
of  the  "  supplementary  "  candidates  in  favour 
of  the  one  blacked. 

(3)  Black  the  square  beside  the  name  of  a 
*'  titular  "  candidate.  Here  he  votes  for  the 
whole  list,  but  modifying  the  order  of  the 
"  titular "  candidates  in  favour  of  the  one 
blacked. 

(4)  Combine  the  last  two  operations  by 
blacking  the  squares  beside  the  name  of  one 
*'  titular  "  and  one  "  supplementary  "  candi- 
date. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  the  individual 
elector  has  but  little  escape  from  the  choices 
of  his  party.  Suppose,  for  instance,  his  party 
puts  forward  a  list  of  four  candidates  :    A, 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    151 

B,  C,  D,  and  he  considers  one  of  them,  say 
B,  to  be  an  undesirable  scoundcel.  He  has 
no  means  of  not  voting  for  him,  short  of 
abandoning  A,  C,  D,  and  his  party  ticket 
altogether;  though  by  blacking  the  square 
opposite  C  or  D  he  can  vote  for  moving  B 
one  place  down  in  the  order  of  preference. 
Experience  shows  that  nearly  all  electors  are 
content  to  black  the  square  at  the  head  of  the 
list,  and  thus  adopt  their  party's  decision  in 
its  entirety.  Herein  they  are  little  better  or 
Worse  off  than  electors  under  the  systems 
current  in  England  and  America;  though 
the  second  ballot  system,  which  prevails  in 
France  and  Italy  and  for  the  German  Reich- 
stag, undoubtedly  gives  the  individual  elector, 
for  good  or  evil,  more  choice  regarding  the 
individual  who  is  to  represent  him. 

Wlien  the  votes  have  been  recorded,  the 
next  step  is  to  allot  the  seats.  How  this  is 
done  can  best  be  shown  by  an  example. 
Suppose  an  election  for  five  seats,  and  sup- 
pose four  party  lists  obtain  24,000,  11,000, 
9000  and  3000  votes  respectively.  These 
figures  are  then  divided  by  two,  with  results 
12,000,  5500,  4500,  1500;  by  three,  with 
results  8000,  3660,  3000,  1000;  and  then  if 
necessary  by  four,  and  so  on.  As  there  are 
five  seats,  the  fifth  largest  of  the  figures  thus 


152  BELGIUM 

obtained  (in  this  case  the  figure  8000)  will  be 
the  "  quotient  " ;  and  by  dividing  it  into  the 
original  figures  24,000,  11,000,  9000  and  3000 
we  shall  find  the  number  of  seats  obtained  by 
each  party.  Consequently  they  will  be  3,  1, 
1,  and  0  respectively. 

This  system  of  Proportional  Representation 
having  now  been  over  fifteen  years  in  force, 
and  having  been  exemplified  every  two  years 
during  that  period,  one  can  draw  certain 
conclusions  regarding  it  with  tolerable  cer- 
tainty. In  the  first  place  its  effect  is  dis- 
tinctly conservative.  No  party  can  increase 
or  diminish  its  number  of  seats  save  by  very 
slow  processes  of  growth  and  attrition;  and 
political  landslides,  as  we  know  them  in 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  are 
quite  out  of  the  question.  Secondly,  although 
the  results  yielded  are  much  more  "  pro- 
portional "  on  the  whole  than  those  under 
the  oldest  electoral  systems,  it  still  gives  a 
disproportionate  advantage  to  the  big  bat- 
talions. If  two  parties  of  equal  size  combine 
their  forces  and  run  a  single  ticket,  they  will 
tend  to  get  more  than  twice  the  number  of 
seats  that  would  have  fallen  to  them  separ- 
ately. Consequently  the  history  of  Belgian 
parties,  since  Proportional  Representation 
was  introduced,  has  been  one  of  fusion  and 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    153 

consolidation.  The  first  victim  of  this  ten- 
dency after  1899  was,  curiously  enough,  the 
little  party  which  had  most  favoured  the 
reform,  viz.  the  so-called  Independent  party 
led  by  M.  Theodor,  consisting  of  Conservatives 
who  were  not  Clericals.  They  were  almost 
immediately  submerged  and  their  forces 
gathered  back  into  the  Conservative-Clerical 
fold.  Similarly  the  Liberal  party  before  1899 
had  practically  been  split  into  two  between 
the  Old  Liberals  or  Doctrinaires^  under  vari- 
ous leaders,  and  the  Progressistes  or  Radicals, 
led  by  the  brilliant  and  eloquent  M.  Paul 
Janson.  But  Proportional  Representation 
speedily  reconverted  them  into  a  single 
political  host;  and  in  1914,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  M.  Paul  Hymans,  the  combined 
Belgian  Liberal  party  was  at  least  as  united 
as  it  has  ever  been.  The  same  tendency 
even  operated  at  the  1912  elections  to  effect 
a  partial  alliance  between  the  Liberals  and 
the  Socialists;  and  in  Flanders,  where  both 
of  them  are  weakest,  such  a  "  cartel  "  be- 
tween them  for  election  purposes  has  long 
been  a  favourite  idea  of  their  local  politicians, 
however  much  frowned  on  by  their  less  com- 
promising leaders  elsewhere.  But  not  the 
least  striking  example  is  provided  by  the 
dominant  Catholic  party  itself.     This  party, 


154  BELGIUM 

which  has  held  office  for  thirty  years,  includes 
extremely  divergent  schools  within  its  ranks. 
There  have  always  been  broadly  two  sections, 
one  of  which  is  Conservative  first  and  Catholic 
afterwards,  another  which  is  Catholic  first 
and  only  Conservative,  if  at  all,  so  far  as 
Conservative  support  is  indispensable  for  the 
maintenance  of  Catholic  interests.  But  each 
section  contains  its  sub-sections;  and  the 
divergencies  between  the  extreme  wings  of 
both  have  grown  so  great  that  nothing  but 
the  mechanical  pressure  of  the  electoral 
system  could  keep  them  longer  together. 
Before  1899  the  extremest  democrats  of  the 
party  had  already  broken  off,  under  the 
leadership  of  a  socialistic  priest,  the  late 
Abb^  Daens,  and  had  formed  a  separate 
organisation,  the  Christian  Democrats;  who, 
though  visited  with  the  displeasure  of  the 
Belgian  episcopate,  grew  fast  in  such  Flemish 
centres  as  Alost,  and  seemed  likely  to  have 
a  future.  After  1899  the  cold  blasts  of  Pro- 
portional Representation  speedily  curtailed 
their  prospects. 

The  Deputies  are  paid  4000  francs  (£160), 
and  given  free  railway  passes  to  travel  be- 
tween their  homes  and  Parliament.  Senators 
are  unpaid.  Any  one  who  possesses  a  vote 
for  the  Chamber  is  also  eligible  for  it.     Candi- 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION     155 

dates  for  the  Senate  require  a  stiffer  qualifica- 
tion; they  must  be  at  least  forty  years  of 
age,  and  pay  £48  in  direct  taxes,  or  own  land 
of  £480  cadastral  revenue.  The  Chamber  is 
renewed  by  halves  every  two  years  (failing 
a  dissolution);  the  Senate,  by  halves  every 
four  years.  This  does  not  mean  that  every 
constituency  votes  biennially  to  elect  half  its 
members;  but  that  the  constituencies  of  the 
country  are  divided  into  two  groups,  of  which 
one  elects  its  members  on  any  given  biennial 
occasion,  and  the  other  on  the  occasion  follow- 
ing. These  are  called  "  partial  "  elections. 
Though  the  practice  thus  differs  in  detail 
from  that  of  English  municipal  councils,  whose 
membership  is  elected  annually  by  thirds,  it 
is  similar  in  so  far  as  it  preserves  a  large 
element  of  continuity  in  the  composition  of 
the  Chambers.  It  reinforces  the  conserva- 
tive tendency,  which  we  have  noted  as  a 
consequence  of  Proportional  Representation. 
A  dissolution  of  Parliament,  in  the  English 
sense,  is  a  very  rare  event.  In  practice  it 
may  occur  in  two  cases :  (1)  in  the  course 
of  the  procedure  described  above  for  amend- 
ing an  article  in  the  Constitution  both 
Chambers  are  completely  dissolved ;  (2)  where 
a  partial  election  has  reduced  the  Govern- 
ment's majority  too  low  for  it  to  remain  in 


156  BELGIUM 

office,  without  giving  an  actual  majority  to 
the  other  side,  the  King,  who  has  always  a 
right  of  dissolving  either  or  both  Chambers, 
will  dissolve  them  to  clear  up  the  position. 
This  was  done  by  Leopold  II  in  1870;  but 
the  necessity  for  it  cannot  often  arise. 

The  main  areas  of  local  government  are  the 
province  and  the  commune.  Within  the  nine 
provinces  there  are  over  2600  communes. 
Each  province  has  a  Governor,  an  elected 
Council  and  a  "  permanent  deputation." 
The  Governor  is  the  nominee  of  the  central 
government.  His  duty  is  to  preserve  order 
and  as  head  of  the  provincial  administration 
to  preside  over  the  permanent  deputation, 
participating  thus  in  the  management  of 
provincial  affairs  and  in  the  control  which 
the  deputation  exercises  over  those  of  the 
communes. 

The  Provincial  Council  is  elected  by  the 
same  voters  as  the  Senate.  It  is,  however, 
elected  by  an  ordinary  majority  vote,  and 
the  councillors  need  not  be  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  They  hold  office  for  eight 
years,  and  their  membership  is  renewed  by 
halves  quadrennially.  The  Council  does  not 
meet  very  often,  its  detailed  day-to-day 
business  being  carried  on  by  the  "  permanent 
deputation."     The  "  permanent  deputation  " 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    157 

consists  of  six  members  who  hold  office  for 
eight  years.  Every  four  years  the  Council 
elects  three  of  their  number.  The  deputa- 
tion is  the  regular  organ  of  the  Council 
for :  (a)  administering  the  affairs  of  the  pro- 
vince ;  (b)  exercising  a  control  over  the  finance 
and  administration  of  the  communes.  It  is 
quite  an  old  institution,  which  was  already 
flourishing  in  Austrian  times.  Communes 
with  less  than  5000  inhabitants  are  grouped 
in  arrondissements,  for  each  of  whom  there  is 
appointed  a  Commissioner  (commissaire)  whose 
duty  it  is  to  supervise  their  administration 
under  the  direction  of  the  Governor  and  the 
*'  permanent  deputation." 

The  larger  communes  with  over  5000  popu- 
lation have  an  autonomy  of  their  own,  many 
of  whose  features  descend  from  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  Communal  Council  is  elected  by 
the  same  voters  as  the  Senate ;  save  that  the 
voter  must  have  been  domiciled  three  years 
in  the  commune,  and  can  have  extra  votes 
in  virtue  of  paying  a  certain  amount  of  taxes 
(which  varies  according  to  the  population  of 
the  commune),  or  owning  land  of  a  certain 
cadastral  revenue.  The  maximum  number 
of  votes  which  any  elector  may  cast  is  four. 
The  Councillors  must  be  at  least  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  and  live  in  the  commune.    They 


158  BELGIUM 

are  not  elected  by  wards,  but  by  proportional 
representation  under  a  system  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  force  for  the  Parliament. 
There  are  also  supplementary  Councillors 
representing  capital  and  labour,  of  whom 
half  are  elected  by  employers  and  half  by 
employees ;  the  electorates  being  those  which 
elect  certain  statutory  "  Councils  of  Industry 
and  Labour,"  whose  business  it  is  to  avert 
and  mitigate  labour  disputes.  In  a  commune 
where  the  population  is  between  20,000  and 
70,000,  there  are  four  of  these  supplementary 
Councillors;  in  larger  communes  there  are 
eight.  Councillors  hold  their  seats  for  eight 
years,  half  their  number  being  elected  at 
quadrennial  intervals.  In  each  commune  a 
"  college,"  consisting  of  a  Burgomaster  and 
iJchevins,  is  elected  by  the  Council  from  its 
members.  Strictly  speaking,  the  Council  only 
selects  the  Burgomaster;  the  King  appoints 
him;  and  the  royal  approval,  though  usually 
given,  is  not  a  matter  of  course — e.  g.  Leopold 
II  always  refused  to  appoint  a  Socialist.  The 
Burgomaster  holds  office  for  ten  years,  and 
is  personally  responsible  for  the  police.  The 
nearest  British  equivalent  to  the  Schevins 
are  aldermen  in  England,  and  bailies  in 
Scotland;  the  French  and  German  equiva- 
lents are  much  nearer.     But  the  constitution 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    159 

of  the  Belgian  municipalities,  though  it  bears 
the  marks  of  Napoleon's  reorganising  genius, 
is  not  the  pure  Napoleonic  type  found  in 
France  and  West  Germany.  The  French  and 
West  German  mayors  are  autocrats;  the 
"  adjoints,"  who  correspond  to  the  EchevinSf 
are  little  more  than  their  servants;  the 
Council's  functions  are  chiefly  consultative. 
In  Belgium  both  tlchevins  and  Council  have 
more  power.  The  "  college  "  above  described 
is  a  joint  executive  more  like  the  Magistrcd 
of  an  East  German  municipality;  and  the 
Council  itself  has  also  executive  functions. 
For  instance,  wiiereas  in  France  and  West 
Germany  the  Mayor  appoints  the  municipal 
servants,  in  Belgium  their  appointments  are 
made  by  the  whole  Council.  The  tlchevins 
number  from  two  to  four  according  to  the 
population  of  the  town ;  and  in  certain  great 
towns  there  are  five  of  them.  The  functions 
of  the  "  college  "  which  they  form  with  the 
Burgomaster  fall  under  two  main  heads : 
(1)  it  is  the  agent  of  the  Council  to  carry  out 
its  resolutions;  (2)  it  is  the  agent  of  the 
Central  Government  to  keep  the  electoral 
registers  and  enforce  the  laws  and  decrees. 

The  titles  "  Burgomaster  "  and  "  Echevin  " 
go  back  to  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies.    The  first  step  in  the  freeing  of  the 


160  BELGIUM 

Flemish  communes  from  feudalism  was  the 
appointment  of  Echevins  to  rule  them.  These 
officials  were  selected  by  the  Count  of  Flanders, 
but  they  were  members  of  the  citizen  body. 
Before  the  year  1200,  in  some  cases,  the  com- 
munes obtained  the  further  right  of  appoint- 
ing what  were  called  Juries  [juris).  These 
bodies  (whose  membership  varied  in  number 
in  the  different  towns)  consisted  of  sworn 
representatives  elected  by  the  Guilds  (Mitiers) 
to  represent  them  and  to  try  all  cases  affect- 
ing their  members.  They  came  to  form  in 
effect  a  Town  Council,  and  to  appoint  one 
(or  sometimes  two)  of  their  number  to  act  as 
Burgomaster,  i.  e.  head  of  the  burghers. 
There  was  originally,  therefore,  a  certain 
opposition  between  the  Burgomaster,  who 
represented  the  civic  electorate,  and  the 
Schevins,  who  were  the  nominees  of  the 
Count.  The  office  of  £}chevin  early  became 
hereditary  in  certain  patrician  families;  and 
it  was  these  who  formed  the  backbone  of  the 
Leliaerts  and  similar  factions,  which  sided 
with  the  Counts  of  Flanders  and  the  French 
monarchy  against  the  popular  parties  in  the 
great  cities.  The  great  popular  leader.  Jacobus 
Van  Artevelde,  as  we  have  seen  (Chapter  III), 
was  a  member  of  this  class;  but  he  was  the 
exception.  The  process  by  which  the  Burgo- 
master and  tlchevins  have  been  formed  into 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    161 

a  single  college  appointed  by  the  Communal 
Council  to  act  as  its  executive  was  accom- 
plished by  stages,  which  we  have  not  time  to 
trace  here.  But  the  antiquity  and  continuous 
tradition  associated  with  the  titles  borne  by 
these  modern  functionaries  undoubtedly  in- 
creases the  strong  hold  which  they  have  on 
the  popular  imagination  in  Belgium.  The 
Burgomasters  of  the  four  great  towns,  Brussels, 
Antwerp,  Liege  and  Ghent,  loom  very  large 
in  the  nation's  public  life;  and  more  than 
once  in  constitutional  crises,  when  Parlia- 
ment itself  seemed  unable  to  settle  national 
problems,  they  have  (as  in  1899  and  again  in 
1913),  intervened  collectively  with  great  moral 
authority. 

The  financial  systems  prescribed  for  the 
State  and  municipalities  are  such  as  to  secure 
effective  public  control.  The  State  taxes  are 
voted  annually,  and  laws  imposing  them  must 
be  annually  renewed.  Every  year  before  the 
budget  of  receipts  and  expenditure  is  brought 
before  the  Chambers  it  has  to  be  submitted 
to  the  examination  of  the  Cour  des  Comptes  or 
Board  of  Audit,  a  body  of  eight  auditors 
appointed  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  The 
Board's  duty  is  to  see  that  the  sums  granted 
by  Parliament  have  not  been  exceeded,  and 
amounts  voted  for  one  purpose  have  not  been 
spent  on  another.    The  Provincial  and  Com- 


162  BELGIUM 

munal  Councils  must  also  have  annual  budgets, 
and  in  each  case  (save  in  specified  exceptions) 
no  local  tax  can  be  imposed  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  whole  Council.  The  expenditure 
of  the  provinces  is  under  the  supervision  of 
the  same  Cour  des  Comptes  which  examines 
that  of  the  State.  In  the  communes  the 
Burgomaster  and  J^chevins  are  directly  re- 
sponsible for  the  management  of  expenditure ; 
and  the  financial  position  of  the  communes 
must  be  checked  at  least  once  a  quarter. 
The  approval  of  the  Crown  is  needed  for  the 
budgets  of  expenditure  of  both  provinces  and 
communes ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  communes 
this  control  is  not  exercised  in  such  a  way  as  to 
restrict  substantially  the  very  large  autonomy 
which  it  is  traditional  for  them  to  enjoy. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  political  and 
administrative  machinery  under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1831  as  modified  during  eighty -three 
years  of  rapid  national  development.  Bearing 
that  development  in  mind  the  modifications 
do  not  seem  many.  But  another  equally  im- 
portant feature  of  the  Constitution  is  its 
effective  guarantee  of  private  rights.  The 
liberty  of  the  subject  is  nowhere  better 
safeguarded  than  in  Belgium.  The  old  Con- 
stitutions or  "  privileges "  dating  from  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  wore 
extremely  effective  under  this  head;  and  if 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    163 

Belgium  became  the  scene  of  a  most  arbitrary 
tyranny  under  the  Duke  of  Alva  and  many 
more  of  his  Spanish  and  Austrian  successors, 
it  was  simply  because  these  foreign  rulers, 
by  the  aid  of  their  foreign  armies,  overrode 
them  altogether.  As  Prof.  Pirenne  justly 
points  out,  they  stood  the  strain  even  under 
Philip  II  until  the  arrival  of  Alva  with  his 
Spanish  regiments  enabled  all  law  to  be 
ignored.  These  "  privileges,"  typically  em- 
bodied, as  we  have  said,  in  the  Joyous  Entry 
of  Brabant,  were  reaffirmed  in  1831  with  the 
necessary  modernisations  and  extensions ;  and 
by  being  enacted  in  the  Constitution  have 
all  the  peculiar  security  against  violation 
attaching  to  the  clauses  of  that  Fundamental 
Law.  The  following  observations  delivered 
in  the  Belgian  Court  of  Cassation  over  forty 
years  ago  by  a  very  eminent  lawyer,  the  late 
M.  Charles  Faider,  are  as  true  to-day  as  they 
were  then — 

Freedom  reigns  among  us  without  flaw 
and  without  infringement.  It  takes  every 
form;  it  sustains  every  right.  I  have 
freedom  of  the  person ;  and  I  can  only  be 
arrested  in  the  prescribed  manner.  I  have 
freedom  of  the  home;  and  my  dwelling 
is  inviolable,  subject  to  the  rule  of  law. 
I  have  freedom  of  property;  and  I  am 
guaranteed  against  expropriation,  confis- 


164  BELGIUM 

cation,  and  arbitrary  taxes,  as  well  as  the 
forfeitures  which  have  been  abolished.  I 
have  freedom  of  activity;  I  am  free  to 
work,  to  choose  my  trade,  to  enter  into 
industrial  contracts.  I  have  freedom  of 
opinion ;  for  all  the  channels  of  the  Press 
and  of  publication  are  open  to  me.  I  have 
freedom  of  speech ;  for  I  can  speak  freely, 
whether  in  Parliament,  in  the  pulpit,  in 
the  police  court,  at  the  Bar,  and  in  what- 
ever language.  I  have  freedom  of  thought ; 
for  no  one  may  violate  the  privacy  of  my 
letters,  and  the  law  lays  no  hand  on  my 
thoughts,  even  my  guilty  thoughts.  I 
have  freedom  of  worship;  for  my  con- 
science is  free,  the  ministers  of  my  religion 
are  independent,  I  may  let  it  exert  its 
full  influence  and  efficacity  for  me.  I 
have  freedom  of  instruction;  for  I  am 
allowed  to  teach  and  to  learn,  where  I 
like  and  at  every  stage,  what  is  known  and 
what  is  believed.  I  have  freedom  of 
movement;  for  every  barrier  has  dis- 
appeared within  the  country,  and  the  pro- 
tection of  foreigners  is  assured.  I  am  free 
to  seek  help,  to  claim  justice,  to  make  my 
voice  heard  against  any  oppression ;  for  I 
can  use  when  I  please  the  right  of  petition. 
Here  I  am,  therefore,  as  a  citizen,  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  genuine  freedom. 

To  a  British  subject  or  an  American  citizen 
in  the  twentieth  century  these  phrases  may 


THE  BELGIAN  CONSTITUTION    165 

perhaps  seem  trite.  He  may  fancy  that  such 
elementary  liberties  are  the  conditions  of 
civilisation,  and  ought  to  be  taken  for 
granted.  But  in  point  of  fact  there  are 
many  Continental  countries  in  which  they 
still  do  not  exist;  and  there  is  not  one, 
except  Switzerland,  in  which  they  have  ex- 
isted continuously,  as  in  Belgium,  for  the  past 
eighty-four  years.  The  Belgian  judiciary, 
whose  reputation  justly  stands  high,  have 
maintained  them  without  fail ;  and  the  exist- 
ence of  this  little  country,  with  its  free  Press, 
and  freedom  of  the  individual  from  arbitrary 
arrest,  was  of  incalculable  value  throughout 
the  middle  of  last  century  to  the  cause  of 
liberty  in  the  countries  adjoining  it.  French, 
Dutch,  and  German  political  refugees  found 
in  it  their  nearest  haven  and  their  most 
convenient  base  of  operations,  even  though 
diplomacy  sometimes  succeeded  in  restricting 
the  latter  use  of  it.  Moreover,  the  country's 
own  freedom  from  revolutionary  movements 
during  the  first  fifty  years  of  its  separate  and 
independent  existence  gave,  like  that  of 
Great  Britain,  a  most  valuable  advertisement 
to  the  cause  of  liberty,  which  was  thus  shown 
not  to  be  subversive  of  public  order,  but  its 
most  effective  guarantee. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

POLITICS   AND   PARTIES   IN   MODERN  BELGIUM 

There  have  always  been  in  Belgium  since 
1830  at  least  two  parties,  Catholics  and 
Liberals;  and  all  Ministries,  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  European  War,  have  repre- 
sented one  of  these,  or  a  coalition  of  the  two. 
The  Revolution  itself  was  the  product  of 
their  co-operation,  and  for  fifteen  years  after 
Leopold  I's  advent  the  country  was  governed 
by  coalition  Ministries.  In  1846  the  parties 
separated.  The  subsequent  alternations  of 
power  have  been  as  follows :  1846-7,  Catholics ; 
1847-55,  Liberals;  1855-57,  Catholics;  1857- 
70,  Liberals;  1870-8,  Catholics;  1878-84, 
Liberals;  1884-1914,  Catholics.  On  the  out- 
break of  war  in  1914  the  Ministry  in  power 
made  itself  a  coalition  Ministry  by  admitting 
the  leaders  of  the  Liberal  and  Socialist  parties. 

The  division  between  the  Catholic  and 
Liberal  parties  was  and  is  primarily  religious. 
The  Catholic  party  represents  the  interests 
of  ecclesiasticism  in  Belgium;  interests  of 
a  very  complicated  kind,  since  the  Roman 
Church  is,  through  its  various  organisations, 
160 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES         167 

the  largest  property-owner  in  the  country. 
There  is  not,  and  never  has  been  since  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  any  but  the 
one  Church.  The  very  small  number  of 
Protestants  are  practically  all  foreigners, 
and  the  Jews  are  numerically  negligible.  A 
Belgian  is  almost  invariably  either  a  Roman 
Catholic  or  a  Freethinker;  let  us  add,  as  a 
social  and  political  factor  of  some  consequence, 
that  a  Belgian  woman  is  almost  invariably  a 
Roman  Catholic.  The  last  point  had  has  the 
curious  consequence,  that  on  various  occa- 
sions, during  the  recurrent  franchise  dispute 
Catholics  have  suggested  Women's  Suffrage, 
which  Liberals  and  Socialists  have  rejected. 

The  moderate  Liberals  or  doctrinaires  are 
men  who  attend  Mass  and  remain  in  com- 
munion with  the  Church,  but  oppose  the 
policy  of  the  episcopate  and  the  clergy  in 
such  matters  as  education  or  the  legal  status 
of  convents.  The  extremer  Liberals  corre- 
spond to  the  Radicals  and  Socialistic-Radicals 
in  France;  they  are  definitely  hostile  to 
religion.  A  similar  hostility  is  almost  uni- 
versal among  the  Belgian  Socialists;  indeed 
the  Church,  by  laying  its  official  ban  upon 
their  ideas  and  organisation,  has  left  them 
practically  no  alternative. 

Behind  this  predominant  cleavage  over 
Church   issues,    to   which   there   is   no   real 


168  BELGIUM 

parallel  in  England  and  none  whatever  in 
America  (unless  perhaps  in  the  State  of 
Utah,  where  the  political  position  of  the 
Mormon  Church  presents  some  analogies 
to  that  of  Catholicism  in  Flanders),  the 
more  strictly  political  cleavages  are  some- 
what vague  and  shifting.  The  Liberals  on 
the  whole  have  been  the  party  of  laisser- 
faire,  the  party  opposed  to  State  interven- 
tion and  regulation;  an  attitude  which  came 
to  them  the  more  easily,  because  their  most 
influential  supporters  were  the  manufacturers 
and  coal-owners  of  the  Walloon  provinces. 
They  have  also  been  the  Francophile  party — 
sympathetic,  that  is  to  France,  and  up- 
holders in  Belgium  of  the  French  language. 
Circumstances  have  latterly  modified  their 
collective  views  in  a  more  popular  direction, 
but  they  remain,  on  the  whole,  the  party 
of  the  well-to-do  urban  classes.  So  long  as 
the  Belgian  franchise  was  a  very  narrow  one 
they  could  hold  their  own  against  the  Catholics 
in  the  political  see-saw;  indeed,  out  of  forty- 
nine  years'  party  government,  they  held 
power  during  twenty-eight.  The  widening 
of  the  franchise  in  1894  was  a  blow  from  which 
they  have  never  yet  recovered.  The  popular 
masses  in  Belgium  are  either  (as  in  the  dense 
Flemish  country-side)  devotedly  religious;  or 
else  (as  in  the  Walloon  industrial  areas)  they 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        169 

want  some  hotter  gospel  of  democracy  than 
Belgian  Liberalism  has  supplied. 

The  Catholic  party  is  not  easy  to  appraise 
justly,  because  it  presents  so  many  faces. 
The  most  unpleasant  of  these  perhaps  is 
its  scurrilous  gutter  Press,  which  is  easily 
the  most  foul-mouthed  in  Belgium.  Its 
net  effect  is  less  conservative  than  might  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  other 
Conservative  party.  There  are,  of  course, 
certain  matters,  on  which  the  Catholic  Church 
always  champions  the  status  quo  against  all 
change.  Its  educational  policy,  which  de- 
layed the  establishment  of  compulsory 
education  until  1914,  cannot  be  acquitted 
of  the  charge  of  hampering  elementary  in- 
struction, and  causing  the  mass  of  illiteracy 
which  is  so  deplorable  in  the  most  Catholic 
areas.  Nevertheless,  ever  since  the  first 
rebellion  of  the  industrial  proletariat  in  1886, 
some  sections  of  the  party  have  taken  a 
genuine  interest  in  social,  as  opposed  to 
political,  reform.  The  more  ardent  of  those 
thus  engaged  are  genuine  and  valuable  social 
workers.  It  is  the  case  that  practically 
all  the  social  legislation  of  Belgium  has  been 
enacted  by  the  Catholics,  and  some  of  it 
has  been  thoroughly  well  conceived.  The 
Catholic  organisation  has  also  been  the 
chief  one  to  occupy  itself  with  the  problems  of 


170  BELGIUM 

the  agriculturists  and  peasants.  The  agri- 
cultural co-operative  societies,  the  Raiffeisen 
banks  and  the  admirable  system  of  agricul- 
tural education,  are  mainly  due  to  its  initi- 
ative. That  these  have  been  created  less 
for  their  own  sake  than  in  order  to  weave  nets 
of  Church  influence  over  the  people,  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  they  are  social  boons, 
and  that  the  priests  stationed  in  every  village 
have  proved  themselves  a  uniquely  successful 
agency  for  organising  and  carrying  them  out. 
The  election  of  1894  introduced  to  the 
Parliament  for  the  first  time  the  Socialist 
party.  The  widened  franchise  gave  it  twenty- 
nine  seats  right  off;  and  the  accession  to  its 
ranks  and  leadership  of  a  remarkable  band  of 
intellectually  eminent  men,  concentrated  on 
it  an  attention  which  it  has  never  lost. 
Beginning  in  1885  as  a  Labour  Party  {Parti 
Ouvrier),  composed  like  the  British  Labour 
Party  of  Socialists,  trade  unionists,  and  co- 
operators  in  alliance,  it  has  gradually  and 
without  serious  friction,  become  a  Socialist 
organisation  throughout.  But  its  strength  has 
always  lain  in  its  co-operative  stores,  which 
form  centres  of  personal  attachment,  of  pro- 
paganda, and  of  revenue,  not  less  powerful  in 
their  way,  though  less  ubiquitous,  than  the 
Church  organisation  of  the  Catholics.  Against 
these  potent  engines  of  its  rivals  the  Liberal 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        171 

party  can  set  nothing  comparable  except  the 
anti-rehgious  freemasons'  lodges;  which,  in 
spite  of  much  recent  development,  are  an 
altogether  less  formidable  weapon.  No  party, 
however,  can  claim  the  monopoly  of  any 
such  social  device.  Trade  unions,  co-opera- 
tive stores,  co-operative  agricultural  societies, 
organisations  of  every  kind  for  pleasure, 
profit,  or  social  intercourse,  tend  to  be  started 
by  all  the  parties  in  turn  as  soon  as  one  has 
proved  their  electoral  value.  The  result,  as 
a  most  careful  English  observer,  Mr.  Seebohm 
Rowntree,  has  noted,  is  an  unusually  deep 
cleavage  between  parties  throughout  the  whole 
social  structure.     As  he  says — 

There  is  extraordinarily  little  social  in- 
tercourse between  Catholics  and  Liberals, 
and  practically  none  between  Catholics  and 
Socialists.  Politics  enter  into  almost  every 
phase  of  social  activity  and  philanthropic 
effort,  and  it  is  the  exception  rather  than 
the  rule  for  persons  holding  different 
political  opinions  to  co-operate  in  any 
other  matter.  Thus  in  one  town  there  will 
be  a  Catholic,  a  Liberal,  and  a  Socialist 
trade  union,  a  Catholic,  a  Liberal,  and  a 
Socialist  co-operative  bakery,  a  Catholic,  a 
Liberal,  and  a  Socialist  thrift  society,  each 
catering  for  similar  people,  but  each  con- 
fining its  attentions  to  members  of  its  own 
political  party.     The  separation  extends 


172  BELGIUM 

to  caf^s,  gymnasia,  choral,  temperance, 
and  literary  societies;  indeed,  it  cuts 
right  through  life.  There  is  everywhere 
this  division  of  the  social  forces,  leading 
to  a  serious  dissipation  of  power.  More- 
over, it  often  happens  that  one  of  the 
parties,  in  any  particular  town,  is  not 
strong  enough  to  maintain  an  organisa- 
tion. In  such  cases  its  members  must 
either  dispense  with  its  benefits  or  leave 
their  party  in  order  to  enjoy  them  else- 
where. Such  adhesion  to  a  political  party 
through  economic  pressure  tends  to  political 
and  religious  hypocrisy.  Social  work  on  a 
neutral  basis,  though  often  tried  by  inde- 
pendent groups  of  reformers,  has  seldom 
succeeded. 

The  drawbacks  of  this  cleavage  from  a 
national  standpoint  are  obvious.  The  reason 
for  it  is  that  two  of  the  parties  concerned, 
the  Catholics  and  Socialists,  are  not  merely 
political,  but  seek  to  be  the  many-sided  ex- 
ponents of  a  whole  way  of  life,  in  which 
politics  is  only  a  phase.  For  this  reason  even  the 
compelling  influence  of  the  war  of  1914  seems 
less  likely  to  break  down  the  exaggeration  of 
party  differences  than  that  of  some  other 
national  cleavages.  Nevertheless,  the  forma- 
tion, for  the  first  time  since  1846,  of  a  Ministry 
representing  all  parties  cannot  but  exert  a 
certain  assuagement  in  the  unmediate  future. 


POLITICS  AND  PARTIES        173 

It  would  be  impossible  within  our  space 
to  follow  in  detail  the  party  history  of 
Belgium  for  eighty-three  years.  Its  com- 
plications are  considerable.  The  kingdom's 
population  in  the  nineteenth  century  was 
quite  large  enough  for  its  internal  affairs  to 
attain  an  importance,  and  its  statesmen  to 
exhibit  a  dignity  and  ability  not  out  of  scale 
with  those  of  the  greater  European  countries. 
Any  one  who,  like  the  present  writer,  has 
long  been  familiar  with  the  tone  and  level 
of  the  debates  in  the  Belgian  Senate  and 
Chamber  will  be  aware  of  the  great  differ- 
ence between  them  and  the  legislatures  of 
many  smaller  or  newer  countries.  In  the 
latter  one  may  sometimes  discover  how  little 
the  Parliament  is  removed  from  the  level 
of  a  glorified  parish  council,  or  Board  of 
Guardians.  In  Belgium  one  oftener  feels, 
how  well  qualified  all  the  principal  actors 
would  be  to  fill  the  stage  at  Westminster 
or  the  Palais-Bourbon.  For  the  purposes 
of  illustration,  therefore,  we  will  content 
ourselves  with  tracing  briefly  the  history 
of  what  have  been  perhaps  the  two  leading 
controversies — that  over  education,  in  which 
the  protagonists  have  been  the  Catholics 
and  the  Liberals,  and  that  over  the  franchise, 
which  has  mainly  been  fought  out  between 
the  Catholics  and  the  Socialists. 


174  BELGIUM 

The  Constitution  of  1831  made  the  right  of 
instruction  free ;  i.  e.  anybody  who  Hked  could 
teach  or  organise  a  school.  The  Catholic  Church 
went  ahead  with  a  system  of  primary  schools, 
while  the  attention  of  Parliament  was  at  first 
taken  up  with  Higher  Education.  After  some 
controversy  in  1835-6  the  university  system 
was  settled  on  its  present  basis,  viz.  two  State 
Universities,  at  Li^ge  and  Ghent  respectively, 
and  two  "  free "  Universities,  one  under 
Catholic  auspices  at  Louvain,  and  one  under 
Liberal  auspices  at  Brussels.  The  number  of 
students  attending  these  universities  in  modern 
times  is  perhaps  worth  quoting,  as  showing 
the  distribution  of  influence.  In  1911-12  the 
figures  were :  Louvain  2100,  Brussels  918, 
Liege  1803,  Ghent  535.  In  1842  the  last,  and 
not  the  least  notable,  of  the  coalition  Minis- 
tries, that  of  M.  Nothomb,  enacted  the  first 
great  law  on  Primary  Education.  It  obtained 
seventy-five  votes  to  three  in  the  Chamber,  and 
was  passed  by  the  Senate  unanimously ;  so  that 
it  can  be  considered  to  have  been  at  the  time  a 
national  solution  of  this  thorny  problem.  The 
law  made  it  compulsory  for  every  commune  to 
maintain  at  least  one  school,  where  primary 
education  should  be  given  gratuitously.  If 
this  school  was  not  sufficient  to  give  all  the 
teaching  required,  it  might  either  provide 
more,    or    "  adopt "    schools    organised    by 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        175 

private  agencies,  e.  g.  the  Church ;  which 
thereupon  received  grants  from  it.  The 
Government  and  the  provincial  administra- 
tions made  grants  to  the  communes  towards 
these  objects.  The  Catholic  concession  to 
the  Liberals  was  that  a  national  system  of 
education  was  set  up,  under  State  auspices 
and  subject  to  Government  inspection.  The 
Liberal  concession  to  the  Catholics  was 
that  the  teaching  of  religion  {i.  e.  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion)  should  be  obligatory  in 
all  such  schools,  and  under  the  sole  control 
of  the  clergy,  who  were  entitled  to  enter  the 
schools  at  any  time  to  see  that  it  was  being 
properly  given.  This  control  covered  moral 
teaching  of  all  kinds,  and  included  a  veto 
over  reading-books.  The  creed  taught  was 
to  be  that  of  the  majority  in  any  school; 
except  in  half-a-dozen  schools  specially 
organised  by  Protestants  or  Jews,  this  was 
always  Roman  Catholic.  Although  this  law 
lasted  thirty-six  years,  during  twenty-two 
of  which  the  Liberals  were  in  power,  it  is 
obvious  that  it  was  more  favourable  to  the 
Catholics  than  to  their  opponents.  The 
concession  of  a  State  system  was  inevitable 
in  return  for  grants  of  public  money;  on 
the  other  hand  the  concession  of  universal 
control  over  religion  and  morals  to  the 
Catholic   Church,   not    only   in   the   schools 


176  BELGIUM 

provided  by  it  but  in  those  provided  by  the 
communes  on  behalf  of  the  State,  seems  only 
justifiable  logically,  if  the  Church  were 
privileged  and  established  under  the  Con- 
stitution, which  it  expressly  was  not. 

So  long  as  the  Liberal  party  was  led  by 
chiefs  who  had  shared  the  epic  experiences 
of  1831  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Catholics, 
the  compromise  lasted.  The  first  sign  of 
its  break-up  was  in  1868,  when  the  Liberal 
Ministry,  still  presided  over  by  Charles 
Rogier  of  Li^ge,  perhaps  the  ablest  of  the 
revolutionary  heroes,  and  second  to  none 
among  the  builders  of  modern  Belgium, 
developed  a  scheme  of  schools  for  adults. 
Rogier  and  his  colleague  Vandenpeereboom, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  project,  desired 
to  give  the  clergy  admission  to  these  schools 
on  the  terms  of  the  law  of  1842;  but  the 
majority  of  the  Cabinet,  composed  of  younger 
men,  resisted;  Rogier  was  compelled  to 
resign;  and  with  the  advent  of  W.  Fr^re- 
Orban  as  Premier  the  Liberal  party  entered 
on  a  more  actively  anti-clerical  career. 
Fr^re-Orban's  majority  was  too  weak  for 
him  to  do  much  at  the  time ;  but  when,  after 
an  eight  years'  interval  of  Catholic  rule,  he 
returned  to  power  in  1878,  he  set  promptly 
and  drastically  to  work.  His  Education 
Law  of  1879  deprived  the  clergy  of  all  right 


POLITICS  AND  PARTIES        177 

of  entry  into  the  schools  during  school  hours, 
and  all  control  over  the  ordinary  school 
teaching;  which  was  placed  on  an  unde- 
nominational basis,  controlled  exclusively  by 
the  civil  authorities.  Religious  instruction 
might  still  be  given  in  the  schools,  but  only 
before  or  after  school  hours,  and  rooms  were 
to  be  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  priests  for 
that  purpose.  Private  {i.  e.  Church)  training 
colleges  for  teachers  were  deprived  of  their 
authorisation ;  and  the  communal  councils,  in 
appointing  their  teaching  staff,  were  compelled 
to  limit  their  choice  to  candidates  with  diplomas 
from  the  State  schools.  The  adopted  Catholic 
schools  lost  their  right  to  grants,  and  the  com- 
munes could  no  longer  adopt  them.  Other 
steps  were  taken  to  diminish  the  authority  of 
the  communes  over  the  schools  by  the  working 
of  a  central  department  of  Public  Instruction, 
which  was  now  for  the  first  time  set  up. 

The  resistance  to  this  Act  by  the  Catholics 
bordered  on  civil  war.  For  many  years  the 
number  of  Catholic  schools  had  diminished, 
the  religious  control  of  the  priesthood  over 
the  public  schools  being  so  thorough  that 
they  wished  for  nothing  better.  At  short 
notice  they  saw  the  whole  of  this  ground  cut 
away  under  their  feet,  and  resolved  to  shrink 
from  nothing  in  order  to  recover  it.  On  the 
day  the  law  passed  the  Senate,  a  pastoral 


178  BELGIUM 

letter  from  the  bishops  forbade  parents,  if 
they  wished  for  absolution  from  their  sins,  to 
send  their  children  to  the  public  schools; 
and  forbade  teachers  and  inspectors  to  accept 
or  retain  employment  in  them.  The  pro- 
vision of  Catholic  schools  in  every  parish 
was  enjoined  upon  the  parish  priests;  and 
throughout  the  country  rich  and  poor,  from 
the  old  Catholic  noble  families  of  Arenberg, 
M^rode  and  the  rest  down  to  the  humblest 
peasants,  weavers  and  sempstresses  in  Flan- 
ders, contributed  to  this  end.  Barns,  stables, 
and  public-houses  were  pressed  into  the 
service ;  new  buildings  were  run  up  by  work- 
men who  declined  wages;  within  twelve 
months  over  2000  schools  of  a  kind  had  been 
organised  by  the  Catholics  on  these  lines,  and 
all  the  children  withdrawn  from  the  free 
schools  had  been  accommodated.  Meanwhile 
every  pulpit  thundered  in  the  cause,  preaching 
the  boycott  of  Liberal  tradesmen  and  the 
eviction  of  Liberal  tenants ;  while  any  known 
Liberal  was  refused  absolution  and  the 
sacraments,  besides  every  form  of  temporal 
assistance.  On  the  other  side  some  Liberal 
employers  retaliated  by  dismissing  work- 
people unless  they  sent  their  children  to  the 
Government  schools;  and  similar  pressure 
was  put  on  state  railwaymen  and  officials 
in  govermnent  service.     The  Pope,  Leo  XIII, 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        179 

was  appealed  to  by  both  sides,  and  affirmed 
his  desire  to  mediate;  but  as  all  the  con- 
cessions which  he  suggested  were  to  come  from 
the  Government,  Frfere-Orban  lost  patience 
with  him  and  withdrew  the  Belgian  Legation 
from  the  Vatican. 

The  bitterness  of  this  struggle  has  probably 
never  been  surpassed  in  a  modern  country; 
and  the  social  cleavage,  which  we  have 
remarked  as  existing  to-day  between  parties 
in  Belgium,  dates  in  a  large  measure  from  it. 
It  did  infinite  harm  both  to  politics  and  to 
education.  The  State  was  unable  to  procure 
a  teaching  staff  adequate  for  its  scheme ;  and 
the  Catholics  were  still  more  unable  to  man 
with  qualified  teachers  their  multitude  of 
mushroom  schools.  They  had  to  be  staffed 
somehow;  and  a  great  number  of  unsuitable 
persons  who  thus  obtained  posts  continued 
to  hold  them  for  long  afterwards.  The 
conflict  raged  till  1884,  with  many  fluctua- 
tions and  some  genuine  though  tardy  and 
unsuccessful  attempts  by  the  Ministry  to 
conciliate  their  opponents.  But  at  the  1884 
elections  the  Ministry  were  completely  beaten ; 
the  Liberal  party  went  out  of  office,  and  it 
has  never  held  office  since. 

The  incoming  Catholic  Ministry  wvs  pre- 
sided over  by  the  veteran  Jules  Malou,  who 
besides  having  been  Premier  from  1871-1878, 


180  BELGIUM 

had  for  many  years  been  the  experienced 
leader  of  the  Catholic  parliamentary  Opposi- 
tion. Malou  was  a  very  able  man,  and  not 
an  extremist;  but  in  such  times  his  party 
would  have  none  but  extreme  measures,  and 
his  subordinates  included  several  strong- 
willed  men,  notably  M.  Woeste,  of  an  ex- 
tremely bitter  temperament.  The  Liberal 
Education  Law,  though  it  had  been  five  years 
in  force,  was  summarily  repealed  and  a  new 
law  passed  which  restored  in  the  main  the 
principles  of  1842.  The  communes  were  once 
more  given  wide  powers  over  the  education 
in  their  areas;  a  great  number  of  the  com- 
munal schools  were  suppressed  as  unnecessary ; 
most  of  the  State  Training  Colleges  were 
closed,  and  the  money  set  free  in  both  cases 
went  to  the  corresponding  Catholic  institu- 
tions. The  net  effect  was  that,  whereas 
by  1875  nearly  three-quarters  of  the  primary 
schools  had  come  to  be  provided  by  the 
conmiunes  and  little  more  than  a  quarter 
by  the  Church,  after  the  law  of  1884  the 
proportions  were  practically  reversed.  At 
the  same  time  religious  instruction  under  the 
control  of  the  Church  was  permitted  (though 
not  made  compulsory)  in  all  schools  during 
school  hours  and  by  the  regular  teachers, 
with  an  exemption  clause  whereby  children 
might  be  excused  attendance  at  it  on  the 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        181 

written  application  of  their  parents.  It  was 
now  the  turn  of  the  Liberals  to  make  violent 
protests.  While  this  legislation  was  passing 
the  Chamber,  fierce  riots  broke  out  in  all  the 
principal  ^cities ;  and  a  fortnight  before  the 
new  law  passed  the  Senate  something  like  a 
pitched  battle  between  Liberals  and  Catholics 
occurred  in  the  streets  of  Brussels.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  communal  elections  took  place, 
at  which  the  Liberals  gained  such  important 
successes  that  the  King  (Leopold  II)  inter- 
vened, and,  to  mitigate  the  strife  of  parties, 
induced  the  most  unpopular  of  the  Ministers, 
M.  Woeste  and  another,  to  resign.  Malou 
resigned  with  them,  and  M.  Beemaert,  a 
Catholic  of  much  more  conciliatory  tendencies, 
became  Prime  Minister.  The  new  law,  how- 
ever, was  not  altered. 

Down  to  this  point,  it  will  be  seen,  educa- 
tion in  Belgium  was  free  but  not  compulsory. 
There  had  to  be  schools  for  the  children  to 
attend,  but  they  were  not  obliged  to  attend 
them.  This  system  actually  lasted  for  another 
thirty  years,  long  after  every  other  European 
country,  except  Russia  and  Turkey,  had 
adopted  compulsory  education.  The  results 
were  perhaps  not  so  bad  as  might  have  been 
expected;  and  no  worse  than  in  countries 
like  Spain,  where  the  compulsion  is  badly 
enforced.     Nevertheless  they  were  bad;   and 


182  BELGIUM 

sheer  illiteracy  remained  common  in  certain 
districts,  especially  in  Flanders.  Moreover, 
the  extensive  employment  of  members  of 
the  religious  orders  as  unpaid  teachers  in  tiie 
Catholic  schools  tended  to  lower  the  whole 
standard  of  payment  for  teachers,  and  con- 
sequently of  efficiency.  While  the  cost  of 
primary  education  in  Belgium  was  kept 
abnormally  low,  its  quality  remained  low 
also.  The  true  percentage  of  illiterates  among 
the  population  has  been  too  much  a  matter 
of  party  controversy  to  be  ascertained  with- 
out dispute  from  official  returns.  When  Mr. 
Rowntree  a  few  years  ago  conducted,  as  an 
English  and  outside  observer,  his  monumental 
inquiry  into  Belgian  social  conditions,  he 
made  an  independent  investigation  into  this 
subject  in  connection  with  one  into  housing; 
and  his  results,  which  covered  13,270  persons 
of  the  working  class  over  ten  years  of  age 
distributed  in  communes  representative  of 
the  various  types  and  districts,  are  probably 
the  fairest  obtainable.  He  found  that  of  the 
whole  13,270  no  less  than  21*4  per  cent. 
(18*55  per  cent,  of  the  men  and  24*50  per 
cent,  of  the  women)  were  unable  either  to  read 
or  to  write;  the  percentage  between  the 
ages  of  ten  and  twenty  being  13*43,  between 
twenty  and  forty  17*98,  and  over  forty  no 
less  than  39*13.    The  figures    became    still 


POLITICS   AND   PARTIES        183 

more  striking  when  analysed  geographically. 
He  found  that  those  from  the  four  great 
towns,  Brussels,  Antwerp,  Li6ge  and  Ghent 
(whose  communal  administration  is  always 
in  Liberal  hands),  showed  an  illiterate  per- 
centage of  11*75;  while,  taking  those  from 
the  rest  of  the  country,  the  returns  from  the 
Walloon  communes  showed  a  percentage  of 
17*34,  and  from  the  Flemish  conmiunes  a 
percentage  of  34*69.  The  illiterate  percen- 
tage among  people  over  forty  in  the  Flemish 
communes  was  58*10.  Having  regard  to  the 
undisputed  fact  that  these  Flemish  communes 
represent  the  region  of  completest  Catholic 
ascendancy  both  in  education  and  in  every- 
thing else,  the  figures  make  it  difficult  to  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  the  Catholic  statesmen  of 
Belgium  have  seriously  sacrificed  the  interests 
of  education  to  those  of  their  party  and  Church. 
After  many  years  of  wrangling,  in  1895,  after 
the  semi-annihilation  of  the  Liberal  party  at 
the  first  election  held  on  the  widened  franchise, 
the  Catholics  carried  a  further  law  making 
religious  instruction  compulsory  in  all  schools. 
It  retained,  however,  the  right  of  exemption 
from  religious  teaching  for  children  whose 
parents  expressed  the  desire  for  it  in  writing, 
and  provided  that  in  schools  attended  by  any 
such  children,  the  other  teaching  should  not 
be  given  a  definitely  Catholic  character,  but 


184  BELGIUM 

should  be  "  neutral."  This  concession  came 
to  be  much  regretted  by  Catholics,  because  in 
a  good  many  schools  the  presence  of  a  few 
non-Catholic  children  made  "  neutral "  in- 
struction inevitable  for  a  much  larger  number 
of  Catholic  children.  Meanwhile  the  Liberal 
attack  on  the  system,  now  reinforced  by  the 
Socialists,  was  concentrated  on  two  main 
points — the  adoption  of  compulsory  educa- 
tion and  the  abolition  of  the  subsidised 
Cathohc  schools.  Whatever  be  thought  of 
the  second  point,  which  raises  the  whole 
question  as  to  whether  private  enterprise 
and  a  denominational  "  religious  atmo- 
sphere "  in  education  are  desirable  things, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  first  point — 
compulsory  attendance — ^was  essential  to  re- 
form. Not  only  were  there  a  considerable 
number  of  children,  possibly  10  per  cent.,  who 
never  attended  school  at  all,  but  the  irregular 
attendance  of  the  others  made  it  impossible 
for  even  good  teachers  to  obtain  adequate 
results.  In  1904  a  very  long  and  heated 
debate  on  both  these  points  took  place  in 
the  Chamber ;  but  the  Government,  under  the 
influence  of  M.  Woeste — still,  as  always, 
the  prophet  of  "  no  compromise  "  within  his 
party — refused  all  concessions.  It  was  not 
till  1912  that  a  comprehensive  Bill  was  intro- 
duced by  the  then  Premier,  M.  Schollaert; 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        185 

but  this  came  to  nothing,  and  M.  Schollaert 
resigned.  His  successor,  Baron  de  Broque- 
ville,  was  more  fortunate,  and  the  Bill 
which  his  Ministry  introduced  in  1913  passed 
into  law  the  following  year.  Under  this 
measure  attendance  at  school  has  been  for 
the  first  time  made  compulsory,  and  the 
teachers  in  all  primary  schools,  whether  pro- 
vided by  the  communes  or  the  Church,  are  to 
be  subject  to  a  government  examination,  and 
paid  on  a  uniform  scale  by  the  State.  More- 
over, the  "  neutrality  "  which  was  enjoined 
by  the  law  of  1895  is  no  longer  to  imply 
abstention 'from  teaching  what  Catholics  call 
"  Christian  morality,"  but  only  from  attacks 
against  the  personalities  or  religious  convictions 
of  families  whose  children  attend  the  schools. 
This  law  was  passed  such  a  short  time 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War 
that  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  far  in  its 
working  it  may  heal  the  old  conflict  and 
enable  the  line  of  party  division  to  be  drawn  in 
Belgium  over  some  other  issue  than  that  of 
education.  It  would  be  good  for  Belgium  if 
it  could;  and  it  should  be  noticed  that  in 
the  higher  branches  of  education,  where  the 
blighting  influence  of  this  controversy  has 
not  been  felt  in  the  same  degree,  the  needs 
of  the  nation  have  long  been  much  more 
adequately  met. 


186  BELGIUM 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  other  great  party 
controversy,  that  over  the  franchise.  Agita- 
tion against  the  old  system  dates  from  the 
period  (1878-1884)  of  the  last  Liberal  Minis- 
try, which  was  gravely  divided  over  it. 
Fr^re-Orban  staved  off  a  party  split  by  giving 
the  vote  in  provincial  and  communal  elections 
to  capacitaires,  that  is,  roughly  speaking,  to 
those  who  now  get  an  extra  vote  on  the  score 
not  of  property,  but  of  education.  But  at 
the  end  of  1884,  when  the  fire  of  the  great 
educational  struggle  had  for  the  time  burnt 
itself  out,  the  franchise  issue  was  revived; 
and  the  Liberal  party  in  Brussels  split  into 
two  hostile  groups,  the  Doctrinaires^  who  did 
not  want  manhood  suffrage,  and  the  Pro- 
gressistes,  who  did.  In  the  following  year 
(1885)  the  present  Labour  party  was  es- 
tablished with  a  socialistic  programme,  and 
its  propaganda  was  stimulated  by  an  economic 
crisis.  In  1886,  the  Walloon  provinces  be- 
came the  scene  of  strikes,  which  were  almost 
insurrections.  They  began  in  the  district 
between  Li6ge  and  Namur;  factories  were 
burned;  convents  and  country-houses  were 
pillaged;  there  were  bloody  interventions  by 
the  military,  and  numbers  were  killed  and 
wounded  in  the  restoration  of  order.  Before 
it  was  restored,  the  revolt  had  spread  west- 
ward to  Charleroi  and  Mons ;  and  the  sky  was 


POLITICS  AND  PARTIES        187 

reddened  nightly  by  the  glare  of  terrible 
conflagrations.  This  portentous  upheaval  of 
the  industrial  masses  had  behind  it  •  little 
leadership  or  plan.  It  was  a  blind  rising  of 
famished  workmen  against  miserable  wages 
and  degraded  conditions  which  had  stood 
still  amid  the  vast  progress  of  their  industry. 
Men  of  all  parties  were  impressed;  and  M. 
Beernaert's  Government  carried  a  good  deal 
of  remedial  legislation,  some  of  which,  e.g. 
the  Housing  Law  of  1889,  has  since  proved 
of  considerable  value. 

This  movement  of  revolt,  together  with  the 
almost  simultaneous  and  rapid  success  achieved 
by  Socialist  co-operative  stores  in  Brussels, 
Ghent,  and  elsewhere,  put  the  Socialist  party 
on  its  feet.  Hitherto  it  had  been  but  a 
handful  of  enthusiasts  grouped  round  Cesar 
de  Paepe;  now  it  became  a  popular  force. 
In  1889  the  Government  prosecuted  twenty 
Socialists  at  Mons;  they  were  nearly  all 
acquitted,  and  the  credit  from  the  trials 
mostly  went  to  the  accused.  At  the  end 
of  that  year  there  was  a  great  strike  at 
Charleroi ;  in  the  following  year  there  was  one 
at  Mons.  In  1891,  on  May  2  a  great  political 
strike  on  behalf  of  the  franchise  broke  out 
among  the  colliers  of  Mons,  Charleroi  and 
Li6ge,  which  lasted  till  July  9,  and  was 
swollen  after  the  first  week  by  the  adhesion 


188  BELGIUM 

of  the  metalworkers.  To  these  strike  tactics, 
the  ultimate  surrender  of  the  class  which 
monopolised  the  narrow  franchise  was  due. 
In  1892  the  Chambers  passed  the  formal 
resolutions  to  amend  the  Constitution,  and 
were  dissolved  in  June.  The  elections  gave 
a  majority  of  the  Catholics,  but  not  a  two- 
thirds  majority,  so  that  they  could  not  carry 
revision  without  some  support  from  the 
Liberals.  The  crucial  debate  began  in  No- 
vember, to  the  accompaniment  of  riots  at 
Brussels  and  Ghent.  It  was  long  and  violent ; 
many  alternatives  were  discussed;  at  last, 
on  April  12,  1893,  all  the  revisionist  proposals 
were  rejected  by  the  Chamber.  Thereupon 
the  popular  storm  broke  again.  The  Walloon 
miners  struck.  At  Mons  the  civic  guard  had 
to  fire,  and  killed  four;  and  in  the  capital 
itself  there  was  a  furious  riot.  The  very 
pillars  of  society  shook,  and  under  unexampled 
pressure  the  Conservatives  gave  way.  On 
April  18  the  compromise  described  in  Chapter 
VII,  conceding  manhood  suffrage,  but  quaUfy- 
ing  it  by  a  plural  vote,  was  adopted  by  the 
Chamber ;  the  assent  of  the  Senate  followed  on 
April  27,  and  the  strikes  ended.  In  1894  the 
fu'st  elections  took  place  under  the  new  system ; 
the  Catholics  obtained  104  seats,  the  Liberals 
only  19;  while  the  Socialists,  who  had 
previously  had  no  representation,  secured  29, 


POLITICS  AND  PARTIES        189 

The  new  system  had  proved  favourable  to 
the  Catholics  beyond  anticipation;  and  it 
did  not  long  content  the  Socialists.  If  the 
reader  turns  to  the  table  of  votes  and  voters 
given  in  the  last  chapter,  he  can  easily  under- 
stand why.  By  1899  the  Socialists  and  Radi- 
cals, not  supported  by  the  moderate  Liberals, 
brought  the  matter  once  more  to  a  crisis; 
and  having  before  found  violence  so  efficacious, 
they  naturally  resorted  to  it  again.  This 
time  they  were  much  less  successful.  The 
advanced  Liberals  acted  with  them  to  a 
certain  point,  and  the  Chamber  had  to  concede 
further  reform ;  but  the  reform  obtained  was 
that  in  which  the  Liberals  were  mainly 
interested,  viz.  Proportional  Representation, 
and  not  what  the  Socialists  most  desired,  viz. 
the  abolition  of  the  plural  votes.  We  have 
described  the  system  of  Proportional  Represen- 
tation in  the  last  chapter,  and  we  need  only 
add  that  its  immediate  political  effect  was  to 
restore  to  the  Liberal  party  a  considerable 
representation  in  the  Chamber,  while  checking, 
on  the  whole,  the  growth  of  the  Socialists. 
Consequently  in  1902  the  Socialists  attempted 
yet  a  third  political  strike  with  the  same 
object  as  the  last.  It  was  an  imposing 
movement,  but  a  complete  political  failure; 
nothing  whatever  was  gained,  and  the  Social- 
ist party  which  had  played  the  card  of  vio- 


190  BELGIUM 

lence  too  often  for  the  taste  of  the  average 
Belgian,  lost  a  good  deal  of  prestige. 

In  the  following  ten  years  the  Catholics 
maintained  their  majority,  and  successive 
elections  convinced  all  their  opponents  that, 
while  the  plural  vote  lasted,  they  would  long 
continue  to  do  so.  Accordingly  at  the 
**  partial  "  election  of  1912,  the  united  Liberal 
party  under  M.  Paul  Hymans  made  a  cartel^ 
or  election  alliance,  with  the  Socialists  on 
the  platform  of  "  universal  suffrage,"  i.  e.  the 
abolition  of  the  plural  votes.  But  the  alliance 
frightened  moderate  Liberal  electors  into 
voting  for  the  Catholics,  and  the  latter 
actually  increased  their  majority.  Popular 
disappointment  in  the  great  towns  was  acute, 
and  on  June  30  a  special  Conference  of  the 
Socialist  party  decided  to  organise  a  general 
strike.  Preparations  were  to  be  made  for  it 
throughout  the  winter,  and  it  was  to  begin  on 
April  14, 1913.  The  strike  was  carried  out,  and 
unlike  those  of  1891-1893  and  their  successors 
in  1899  and  1902,  it  was  free  from  violence 
or  bloodshed.  But  again  it  was  politically 
a  failure.  After  a  short  time,  the  best  which 
the  Socialist  leaders  could  hope  was  to  obtain 
some  nominal  concession  which  might  enable 
the  strike  to  be  abandoned,  and  it  also 
became  the  Gk)vemment's  interest  to  make 
such  a  concession  in  order  to  end  the  incident 


POLITICS  AND   PARTIES        191 

without  bloodshed.  The  difficulty  was  to 
bring  the  two  parties  together  on  this  basis 
without  appearing  to  humble  one  or  other 
of  them;  but  after  two  mediations  by  the 
Burgomasters  of  the  four  great  cities,  the 
strike  was  ended  on  the  Prime  Minister's 
consenting  to  appoint  a  Commission  to  report 
on  the  system  of  voting  for  provincial  and 
conmiunal  elections,  with  the  proviso  that  if 
the  Commission  made  any  suggestion  appli- 
cable to  the  elections  for  the  Chambers,  the 
Government  would  allow  it  to  be  discussed. 

Beyond  this  point  the  matter  has  not  yet 
progressed;  but  with  the  dying  off  of  the 
older  generation  among  Catholic  politicians, 
it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  party 
abolished,  or  at  least  diminished,  the  plural 
votes  of  its  own  accord.  Its  advanced 
sections,  which  are  ably  represented  in  the 
Ministry,  have  long  urged  this  course;  and 
though  it  would  increase  the  Socialist  repre- 
sentation in  the  Chambers,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  Liberals  rather  than  the  Catholics 
would  be  weakened  by  it,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  original  extension  of  the  franchise  in  1894. 
It  would  be  a  gain  for  the  Catholic  party  for  its 
power  to  be  seen  resting  on  the  democracy 
instead  of  appearing  to  rest  on  the  plural  voter. 
A  party  which  claims,  and  possibly  with  justice, 
to  represent  the  majority,  endangers  that  claim 


192  BELGIUM 

by  perpetuating  the  rule  of  the  minority  as  if 
it  were  vital  to  its  existence. 

In  both  the  controversies  which  we  have 
traced,  the  reader  will  remark,  and  may 
deplore,  the  tendency  to  coerce  Parliament 
by  extra-parliamentary  violence.  The  revolu- 
tionary example  was  first  set  by  the  Catholic 
party,  i.  e.  the  party  of  the  Conservatives 
and  the  old  nobility,  in  the  years  1879-1884. 
It  was  copied  by  their  opponents,  the  Liberal 
middle  class,  when  the  Catholics  won  the 
upper  hand;  and  when  the  downtrodden 
proletariat  started  shaking  society  in  1886, 
it  was  merely  acting  on  a  lesson  which  had 
been  recently  and  plentifully  taught  to  it  by 
its  social  superiors.  The  Belgian  Catholics 
were  not  the  first  Conservative  party  in 
history,  and  may  not  be  the  last,  to  find, 
when  too  late  for  repentance,  that  if  one 
starts  constitutional  and  social  incendiarism 
the  flames  cannot  be  confined  to  other  people's 
houses.  The  Socialists  who  invoked  violence 
to  destroy  the  old  monopolist  franchise  had 
at  least  this  excuse,  peculiar  to  franchise 
agitations,  that  a  parliamentary  remedy  was 
not  really  open  to  them,  since  Parliament  was 
elected  by  the  very  body  whose  monopoly 
they  attacked.  This  inherent  element  of 
justice  in  the  agitation  of  1891-1893  had  much 
to   do   with   its   triumph.    The   subsequent 


POLITICS  AND  PARTIES        193 

attempts  to  repeat  it,  and  their  failure, 
followed  what  seems  to  be  a  definite  psycho- 
logical tendency  in  modern  democracies. 
Political  success  attained  by  violence  infects 
those  who  have  attained  it  with  a  belief 
that  they  can  get  more  by  the  same  methods, 
and  it  simultaneously  infects  the  large  peace- 
loving  public  with  a  growing  determination 
that  they  shall  not.  There  can  be  very  little 
doubt  that,  while  the  recurrent  strike  agita- 
tions have  nourished  the  zeal  of  the  Socialist 
party's  zealots,  they  have  prevented  it  more 
than  anything  else  from  widening  its  electoral 
influence  as  far  as  the  great  ability  of  its 
parliamentary  leaders  entitled  it  to  expect. 
In  point  of  fact  its  representation  in  the 
Chamber  to-day,  is  no  larger  a  fraction  of  that 
body  (whose  membership  has  been  increased 
in  conformity  with  the  growth  of  the  popula- 
tion) than  it  was  when  it  entered  Parliament 
twenty  years  ago. 

The  excesses  of  the  later  strife  between 
Belgian  parties  scarcely  correspond  to  the 
normal  temper  of  the  Belgian  people,  which 
is  stable  and  law-abiding.  Nor  should  they 
blind  us  to  the  marked  success,  on  the  whole, 
of  Belgian  parliamentary  institutions.  No- 
where on  the  Continent  has  the  machinery 
of  parliamentary  and  Cabinet  Government 
imported  from  England  worked  so  consistently 
o 


194 


BELGIUM 


well  for  so  long  a  time;  and  only  perhaps  in 
Holland  and  the  Scandinavian  countries  is 
it  now  on  an  equally  stable  footing.  There  is 
not  in  Belgium,  as  there  is  in  France,  any 
large  body  of  opinion  desiring  a  fundamental 
change  in  the  relations  between  Parliament 
and  the  Executive.  The  Socialists  advocate 
a  Republic,  i.  e.  the  substitution  of  election 
for  heredity  in  the  choice  of  the  titular  head 
of  the  State ;  but  while  the  change  is  one  on 
whose  democratic  utility  the  world's  experience 
seems  to  throw  increasing  doubt,  it  is  certainly 
not  one  whose  advocacy  swells  the  votes  of 
the  Socialist  party.  The  three  monarchs  who 
have  in  succession  occupied  the  throne  of 
Belgium  have  all  wielded  a  great  influence 
over  its  affairs ;  but  in  each  case  this  has  been 
far  more  due  to  a  strong  personality  than  to 
any  formal  prerogatives  which  have  been 
conferred  by  the  Constitution,  or  could  be 
withdrawn  by  amending  it. 

Table  Showing  the  Constitution  of  Parties  in  thb 

C5HAMBEE  APTEB  THE  LaST  FiVE  (PaBTIAL)  ELECTIONS. 


1906. 

1908. 

1910. 

1912. 

1914. 

Oitholios    . 

89 

87 

88 

101 

99 

Liberals 

46 

43 

46 

46 

46 

Socialists    . 

30 

3d 

34 

38 

40 

ChristiAD  Demoorats  . 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

J 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOCIAL    CONDITIONS    AND    AGENCIES 

Belgium  is  the  land  with  the  densest 
population  in  Europe;  the  cheapest  railway 
travelling  and  railway  rates ;  and  the  smallest 
average  size  of  land-holdings.  The  popula- 
tion is  much  spread  out;  nowhere  else  do  so 
many  urban  workers  have  their  homes  in  the 
country.  It  is  a  hive  of  mining  and  manu- 
facturing industries;  and  at  the  same  time 
its  agricultural  production  in  proportion  to 
area  is  the  highest  in  the  world.  Wages  are 
very  low;  and  trade  unionism  is  weak.  On 
the  other  hand,  costs  of  living,  and  especially 
of  housing,  are  also  low;  and  co-operative 
movements  of  several  kinds  are  strong.  The 
birthrate  is  practically  the  same  as  the 
British;  the  deathrates  in  the  great  towns 
are  lower.  There  is  a  good  judicial  system; 
a  fairly  efficient  police;  and  an  extremely 
inefficient  Poor  Law.  There  is  a  great  amount 
of  philanthropic  effort,  but  its  motive  is 
practically  always  political  or  (what  is  almost 
195 


196  BELGIUM 

the  same  thing  in  Belgium)  religious;  and 
while  the  competition  of  parties  gives  it  a 
powerful  stimulus,  it  also  leads  to  much  over- 
lapping and  dissipation  of  effort. 

The  most  formative  of  modem  influences 
in  Belgium  has  been  the  railway  system;  by 
which  the  later  developments  of  its  industry, 
agriculture  and  housing  have  been  incalcul- 
ably assisted.  Thanks  to  the  business  acumen 
of  Leopold  I,  Belgium  possessed  the  first 
railways  on  the  Continent.  The  King,  who 
was  closely  in  touch  with  English  engineers 
and  industrialists,  shared  George  Stephen- 
son's view,  which  the  British  House  of 
Commons  rejected,  in  favour  of  a  State 
system.  The  centre  of  this  was  originally 
at  Malines,  with  four  lines  radiating  thence 
to  the  principal  great  towns;  that  through 
Brussels  being  extended  to  Charleroi,  and 
thence  linked  up  with  France.  Later,  under 
the  mid-century  Liberal  Governments,  conces- 
sions were  given  to  various  private  companies ; 
but  these  have  been  since  absorbed;  and 
practically  the  whole  of  the  full-gauge  railways 
are  now  in  the  State  system.  The  figures 
on  December  81,  1911,  were — State  lines  : 
2697  miles ;  private  :  218  miles.  The  light 
railways  amounted  at  that  date  to  another 
2420  miles ;  while  464  miles  of  light  railways 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  197 

were  under  construction.  Of  this  system  it 
may  be  said  broadly,  in  contradistinction  to 
the  British,  that  no  part  of  its  capital  repre- 
sents watered  stock,  or  the  cost  of  con- 
structing rival  lines  in  competition  between 
identical  places,  or  the  cost  of  renewals 
wrongly  carried  to  capital  account  by  a 
generation  hungry  for  dividends;  stift  less 
such  expenditure  as  that  in  England  over 
Parliamentary  Bills.  The  traveller  or  the 
consigner  of  goods  on  the  Belgian  railways 
has  to  pay,  of  course,  for  the  cost  of  their 
construction  and  management;  but  he  has 
not  to  pay  also  for  a  past  accumulation  of 
mistakes  and  jobberies,  nor  to  pile  up  profits 
for  private  shareholders. 

Since  1885  the  main  railway  system  has 
been  supplemented  by  a  very  complete  sys- 
tem of  light  railways.  These  are  practically 
steam  tramways,  running  most  commonly  on 
the  high-roads.  They  each  belong  to  a 
separate  limited  company;  but  are  all  con- 
structed and  controlled  by  a  central  company, 
the  "  National  Society  for  Local  Railways  " 
{SociSU  NationaU  de  Chemins-de-fers  Vici- 
natix),  which  is  administered  by  a  council 
of  four,  two  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and 
two  by  the  shareholders  in  the  different  lines 
voting  as  one  body.     The  chairman  of  the 


198  BELGIUM 

council  is  appointed  by  the  Crown,  as  is  the 
general  manager;  while  there  is  a  super- 
vising committee  of  nine  elected  members, 
one  from  the  shareholders  of  each  province. 
The  provision  of  the  railways  is  effected 
between  this  company,  the  State,  the  pro- 
vinces, and  the  communes  on  a  very  ingenious 
plan.  First  there  is  an  application  from  the 
commune  (or  communes)  to  the  National 
Society,  which  makes  a  rough  survey  and 
estimates,  and  submits  them  to  the  Govern- 
ment. If  the  Government  approves,  a  limited 
company  is  formed  to  make  the  line.  The 
State,  in  return  for  a  right  of  final  control  over 
the  plans,  subscribes  half  the  capital,  and  the 
province  subscribes  a  third  or  a  quarter.  The 
rest  is  mainly  found  by  the  communes,  and 
a  very  small  fraction  by  private  individuals. 
The  State,  the  provinces,  and  the  communes 
do  not  provide  their  capital  in  a  lump,  but 
pay  it  in  annual  instalments  for  ninety  years 
to  the  National  Society.  These  instalments 
have  been  fixed  at  3|  per  cent,  or  a  little  more 
on  the  capital  subscribed;  and  as  there  is 
the  State  guarantee  of  the  principal,  the 
National  Society  has  been  able  to  issue  3  per 
cent,  debentures.  The  lines  are  thus  cheaply 
financed,  and  if  a  company's  line  can  earn 
a  higher   percentage  than  the  annual  instal- 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  199 

ments,  there  is,  after  payment  to  certain 
reserve  funds,  an  actual  return  of  profit  to 
the  public  bodies  investing  in  it.  The  National 
Society  provides  rolling  stock,  but  farms  out 
the  working  of  the  lines  to  companies,  in 
which  the  communes,  again,  are  not  in- 
frequently the  principal  shareholders.  This 
system  deserves  some  attention  from  those 
interested  in  "  hybrid  "  schemes  to  combine 
public  and  private  enterprise.  Its  merits 
are,  that  capital  has  been  cheaply  provided 
without  an  excessive  burden  on  the  public; 
that  the  State  has  kept  full  control  over  con- 
struction; that  the  National  Society  has 
formed  a  central  reservoir  of  skilled  advice 
and  experience;  and  that  at  the  same  time 
each  line  has  had  a  close  and  personal  manage- 
ment, and  each  locality  a  direct  interest  in 
making  its  line  prosper. 

The  great  system  of  internal  waterways  is 
also  almost  entirely  under  public  control.  It 
is  not  worked  to  make  profits,  but  to  serve 
trade.  Together  with  the  cheap  fares  and 
freights  of  the  main  State  railways,  it  has 
been  used  to  decentralise  Belgian  industry 
into  the  small  or  moderate-sized  industrial 
centres,  which  are  such  a  marked  feature  of  it. 
An  extraordinarily  cheap  system  of  weekly 
tickets   for   workmen   enables   employees   to 


200  BELGIUM 

live  at  great  distances  from  their  work.  Not 
a  few  travel  every  day  from  distances  of 
sixty  miles  or  more;  and  distances  up  to 
thirty  miles  are  almost  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence. The  result  is  that  both  manufacturer 
and  workman  bear  perhaps  a  lighter  burden 
of  rent  in  Belgium  than  in  any  other  country ; 
and  the  problems  of  housing  and  hygiene  are 
incalculably  eased.  The  long  hours  in  Belgian 
factories  render  the  hours  of  travel  an  oppres- 
sive and  exhausting  addition  for  many  toilers ; 
but  the  possession  of  a  country  home,  usually 
with  a  little  land,  has  many  advantages, 
especially  for  the  children,  and  proves  par- 
ticularly helpful  in  times  of  unemployment. 
In  many  seasonal  trades,  such  as  the  building 
industry,  there  are  very  large  numbers  of 
workmen,  who  combine  (or  rather  alternate) 
town  work  with  work  on  the  land ;  and  thus 
get  rid  of  the  problem  of  unemployment  in 
a  very  practical  way.  The  ubiquitous  light 
railways  supplement  these  processes;  but 
their  greatest  benefits  are  for  agriculture. 
Acting  as  feeders  to  and  from  the  main  lines, 
they  convey  enormous  quantities  of  produce, 
cattle,  manures,  fertilisers  and  fodder  through 
the  rural  districts,  besides  coal,  timber,  stone, 
gravel,  sand,  lime,  bricks,  etc. ;  and  they  have 
not  only  enriched  the  cultivated  areas,  but 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  201 

brought  others  into  cultivation  in  the  Campine 
and  the  Ardennes. 

The  land  in  Belgium  is  divided  between  an 
unusually  large  number  of  owners.  The  true 
figure  cannot  be  ascertained  from  the  official 
returns,  which  show  separate  properties,  not 
proprietors;  but  Mr.  Rowntree's  inquiry,  a 
few  years  ago,  showed  that  10  per  cent,  of  the 
population  owned  at  least  a  plot,  and  47  per 
cent,  of  the  soil  was  owned  by  persons  with 
not  more  than  a  hundred  acres.  This  extreme 
subdivision  seems  mainly  due  to  the  operation 
during  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Belgian 
laws  of  testamentary  and  intestate  succession. 
These  laws  forbid  property  to  be  entailed,  and 
with  certain  exceptions  they  compel  it  to  be 
equally  divided  among  the  legal  heirs.  With 
the  prevalent  small  ownership  there  goes  a 
prevalence  of  small  agricultural  holdings. 
Leaving  out  of  account  those  under  one  acre, 
Mr.  Rowntree  found  the  average  size  of  farms 
in  Belgium  to  be  fourteen  and  a  half  acres,  as 
compared  with  sixty-three  in  Great  Britain. 
Of  the  agricultural  population  65  per  cent,  are 
farmers  and  the  members  of  their  families 
working  with  them;  only  35  per  cent,  are 
labourers.  In  Great  Britain  the  percentages 
are  reversed,  and  70  per  cent,  are  labourers. 

But  it  must  not   be  supposed   from  this 

O  3 


202  BELGIUM 

that  the  small  cultivators  and  small  pro- 
prietors are  always  the  same  people.  In  the 
most  intensively  farmed  areas,  those  of 
Flanders,  the  peasants  are  usually  tenants 
at  a  rack  rent  on  comparatively  short  leases. 
Owing  to  the  great  subdivision  of  the  land, 
its  rents  and  prices  rule  very  high,  because 
there  are  more  competitors  for  small  lettings 
than  for  large.  Indeed,  the  peasants  can 
only  pay  them  by  putting  up  with  a  standard 
of  life  far  lower  than  their  productivity 
warrants;  nor  could  they  even  so,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  great  advance  in  technical  methods, 
the  use  of  artificial  manures,  etc.,  which  a 
very  good  system  of  agricultural  education 
has  enabled  them  to  make.  They  have  also, 
as  we  shall  see,  been  assisted  by  the  develop- 
ment of  agricultural  co-operation,  and  co- 
operative banks  mainly  through  Catholic 
agencies.  But  the  unsatisfactory  feature  of 
Belgian  rural  life,  at  least  so  far  as  Flanders 
is  concerned,  is  that  all  these  improvements 
sooner  or  later,  and  mostly  sooner,  are 
balanced  by  rises  in  rent;  and  though  the 
wealth  of  the  country  grows,  that  of  the 
cultivators  does  not.  In  the  more  sparsely 
populated  parts  of  Belgium,  such  as  the 
Ardennes  and  Limburg,  the  cultivators  are 
really  more  prosperous.     To  a  greater  extent 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  208 

they  own  what  they  cultivate;  and  they  are 
materially  helped  by  rights  of  common,  which 
in  those  areas  have  not  been  wholly  extin- 
guished. 

The  presence  of  this  teeming  agricultural 
population  on  the  soil  of  Flanders  and  Bra- 
bant, accustomed  to  hard  work  and  cheap 
living,  and  often  seeking  only  subsidiary  and 
intermittent  employment  in  the  town,  has 
helped  to  keep  down  Belgian  industrial  wages. 
The  low  scale  of  these  may  be  also  explained 
by  the  weakness  of  trade  unionism,  a  feature 
which  in  itself  seems  to  have  four  separate 
causes.     These  are  : 

(1)  The  dispersal  of  the  workers'  homes  over 
large  areas,  and  the  time  daily  consumed  by 
them  in  travelling.  English  trade  unionists 
know,  how,  even  in  London,  the  distance 
between  homes  and  work-places  weakens  their 
organisations,  whenever  there  is  not,  as  there 
is  at  Woolwich,  or  by  the  Docks,  a  strong 
nucleus  of  resident  labour.  This  difficulty 
affects  nearly  all  Belgian  unions  in  an  unusual 
degree. 

(2)  The  strength  of  local  and  provincial 
sentiment,  which  led  to  the  growth  of  little 
unions  in  each  separate  centre. 

(3)  The  great  prevalence  of  home  work,  and 
also  of  small  workshops. 


204  BELGIUM 

(4)  The  fact  that  trade  unions,  like  nearly 
all  other  Belgian  organisations,  have  been 
political  in  origin,  and  that  the  cleavage  be- 
tween the  parties  is  too  wide  for  unions  under 
different  party  flags  to  co-operate,  much  less 
to  unite.  At  present  there  are  Socialist 
unions,  Catholic  unions  and  Liberal  unions; 
and  though  the  first  are  much  the  strongest, 
they  have  by  no  means  a  monopoly.  Now 
in  an  enterprise  like  co-operation  such  a 
division  of  forces  does  no  vital  harm.  A 
Socialist  co-operative  store  with  2000  members 
can  flourish  exceedingly,  even  though  a 
Catholic  co-operative  store  with  1000  members 
and  a  Liberal  co-operative  store  with  500 
stand  in  the  same  street.  But  the  success  or 
failure  of  a  trade  union  depends  on  its  in- 
cluding as  far  as  possible  all  the  workers  in  a 
given  trade;  and  if  the  trade  membership  is 
divided  out  in  any  such  proportions  as  the 
foregoing  no  one  of  the  three  unions  can  exert 
much  strength  in  collective  bargaining.  This 
is  perhaps  the  fundamental  reason  why  the 
Belgian  Labour  movement,  political  in  its 
inception  and  still  predominantly  political  in 
its  inspiration,  while  able  to  make  a  success 
of  the  co-operative  store,  has  by  comparison 
failed  with  the  trade  union.  It  may  be 
rejoined,  that  a  similar  political  origin  has 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  205 

not  prevented  the  German  Socialist  trade 
unions  from  becoming  a  great  ?force  in  their 
own  field.  But  there  are  few  if  any  parts  of 
Germany  where  the  political  schism  within 
the  working-class  itself  is  so  deep-rooted, 
as  that  which  prevents  a  Belgian  Cathohc 
workman  from  joining  a  trade  union  under 
Socialist  auspices. 

Some  of  these  weaknesses  in  Belgian  trade 
unionism  are  being  in  a  measure  overcome. 
The  Socialists  have  worked  hard  at  fusing 
local  trade  unions,  and  also  at  creating  a 
federal  organisation  between  the  unions  in 
different  trades.  The  Trade  Union  Committee 
{Commission  Syndicale),  which  the  Labour 
Party  has  formed  and  to  which  various 
"  independent "  trade  unions  are  aflBliated, 
holds  annual  trade  union  congresses;  and 
although  housed  at  the  Socialist  headquarters 
in  Brussels,  contains  the  germs  of  a  dis- 
tinctively trade  union  statesmanship.  The 
delegates  at  its  last  congress  (1914)  represented 
126,745  members.  Its  leaders  seek  their 
models  mainly  in  the  German  federation  of 
trade  unions.  French  Syndicalist  ideas  have 
not  greatly  affected  them,  and  are  scarcely 
adapted  for  the  Flemish  temperament,  though 
they  may  be  for  the  Walloon ;  but  there  is  a 
desire  among  some  of  the  trade  union  chiefs 


206  BELGIUM 

to  make  their  organisations  less  political.  The 
Belgian  Labour  movement  started  with  the 
idea,  to  which  that  of  Great  Britain  has 
slowly,  partially,  and  recently  attained,  that 
all  the  efforts  of  the  working-class  to  uplift 
itself,  whether  by  political,  trade  unionist, 
or  co-operative  action,  ought  to  be  linked 
together  in  one  organisation,  as  so  many  con- 
certed moves  by  the  single  working-class  army. 
Undoubtedly  the  politicians  have  benefited 
most  by  this  arrangement,  and  the  trade 
unions  least.  Yet  there  have  been  some 
benefits  to  all  the  parties,  particularly  on  the 
educational  side. 

The  Belgian  co-operative  movement,  so  far 
as  regards  consumers*  societies,  is  on  a  small 
scale  in  comparison  with  the  British;  and 
with  negligible  exceptions  is  under  party 
auspices.  After  several  non-party  co-opera- 
tive failures,  the  Socialists  were  first  successful 
with  the  famous  society  "  Vooruit  "  at  Ghent 
(1881),  followed  by  the  "  Maison  du  Peuple  " 
at  Brussels  (1882).  These  societies  were 
started  by  poor  men  with  very  small  resources 
(the  wage  rates  at  Ghent  are  the  lowest  in  the 
Belgian  great  towns)  in  a  high  spirit  of 
political  and  educational  idealism.  Both  have 
long  been  extremely  flourishing;  and  pros- 
perity has  not  quenched  that  early  spirit  so 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  207 

noticeably  as  in  the  case  of  many  English 
co-operative  concerns.  The  Socialists  were 
not  long  in  transplanting  co-operation  to  the 
Walloon  county,  where  they  are  politically 
strongest;  and  the  greater  number  of  their 
stores  are  now  situated  there.  The  move- 
ment has  a  "  Wholesale,"  the  Federation  des 
SocieUs  coopSratives  Beiges,  whose  sales  have 
risen  from  £30,694  in  1901  to  £382,654  in 
1912 — still  rather  modest  figures,  if  judged 
by  English  or  Scottish  standards.  The  Federa- 
tion includes  a  certain  number  of  co-operative 
producing  societies,  which  the  larger  con- 
suming societies  have  floated  as  subsidiary 
enterprises.  The  "  Vooruit,"  for  instance,  has 
organised  a  co-operative  and  spinning  society 
at  Ghent;  and  in  the  same  town  imder  the 
same  auspices  there  is  a  co-operative  printing 
society  and  a  co-operative  society  of  builders. 
The  "  Vooruit's  "  total  receipts  in  1912  were 
about  £164,105,  and  its  membership  was 
about  8000 — a  figure  which  had  not  altered 
substantially  for  a  number  of  years.  The 
*'  Maison  du  Peuple  "at  Brussels  in  1912  had 
a. membership  of  20,000,  but  its  sales  were 
only  £271,795.  The  next  largest  society, 
"  Le  Progr^s  "  of  Jolimont,  with  a  member- 
ship also  about  20,000,  and  branches  in  many 
coal    and    iron    townships    throughout    the 


208  BELGIUM 

Centre  coalfield,  had  sales  of  £184,000.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  value  of  the  purchases 
per  head  is  extremely  low.  In  Ghent  it  is 
about  half  the  English  average  per  head;  in 
the  Centre  coalfield  it  is  less  than  a  quarter. 
Even  when  allowance  is  made  for  the  much 
lower  wages  and  smaller  weekly  expenditure 
of  the  Belgian  workman,  it  is  clear  that  any 
direct  service  rendered  by  co-operation  as  a 
factor  in  his  housekeeping,  must  be  far  less 
in  Belgium.  The  same  conclusion  would  be 
reached  if  we  examined  figures  for  the  Catholic 
and  Liberal  co-operative  societies.  The 
Liberals  have  only  one  society,  that  at 
Antwerp,  which  may  be  called  flourishing; 
and  the  Catholics,  whose  largest  society  is  at 
Charleroi,  have  nowhere  succeeded  in  over- 
taking the  start  which  the  Socialists  obtained 
in  this  work. 

But  it  would  be  wrong  to  measure  the  per- 
formance of  the  Belgian  co-operative  stores 
solely  by  English  standards.  Their  aims  have 
been  different.  They  have  not  sought  prim- 
arily to  add  sixpence  or  a  shilling  per  week 
to  the  value  of  the  workman's  earnings,  their 
object  has  rather  been  to  enable  people  earn- 
ing very  low  wages  to  obtain  those  benefits 
of  political  organisation,  trade-unionism,  and 
education,  for  which  they  were  too  poor  to 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  209 

pay  solely  by  direct  contributions.  Co-opera- 
tion, it  is  often  said  in  Belgium,  carries 
Socialism  and  trade-unionism  on  its  back. 
The  profits  on  sales  have  built  fine  premises, 
which  all  three  movements  use;  they  also 
enable  direct  grants  to  be  made  to  politics 
and  propaganda,  and  have  helped  to  finance 
not  a  few  strikes.  But  the  help  has  not  all 
been  on  one  side.  It  was  a  loan  of  £80  from 
a  trade  union,  the  Ghent  Weavers'  Associa- 
tion, which  enabled  the  "  Vooruit "  to  be 
founded ;  and  the  history  of  non-political  co- 
operation in  Belgium,  both  in  the  eight  years 
before  that,  when  it  had  the  field  to  itself 
(the  first  non-political  society  started  in  1878), 
and  in  the  thirty-three  years  since,  gives 
ground  for  doubting  whether  the  movement 
could  have  been  seriously  developed  without 
a  political  or  religious  stimulus.  On  its  pre- 
sent lines  it  has  had  a  great  educational 
influence;  local  increases  of  thrift  and  de- 
creases in  gin-drinking  seem  often  traceable 
to  it.  Scientific,  literary,  musical  and  gym- 
nastic societies  all  flourish  among  the  work- 
men under  the  co-operative  roof;  and  the 
Socialist,  who  looks  forward  to  a  future  of 
democratic  culture  attained  by  fraternal  effort 
and  the  spontaneity  of  the  working-class,  has 
many  justifications  for  finding  in  the  social 


210  BELGIUM 

and  corporate  life  of  a  great  society,  like  the 
"  Maison  du  Peuple  "  or  the  "  Vooruit,"  the 
best  foretaste  of  his  ideal. 

The  Catholic  party's  co-operative  stores 
require  no  special  notice.  Its  real  equiva- 
lent to  the  Socialist  enterprises  must  be 
sought  in  the  country  side.  Space  does  not 
allow  us  to  give  any  minute  description  of 
Belgian  agriculture,  which  was  investigated 
in  special  detail  not  long  ago  by  Mr.  Rown- 
tree.  We  have  said  it  is  typically,  though 
not  solely,  an  agriculture  of  small  holdings; 
and  its  production  per  acre  is  the  highest 
in  Europe.  Comparing  Belgium  with  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  Den- 
mark, we  find  that  she  keeps  per  square  mile 
more  cattle  and  more  pigs  than  any  of  them 
except  Holland,  and  more  horses  than  any 
but  Holland  and  Denmark;  that  her  yields 
of  wheat  and  oats  per  acre  are  the  highest 
of  all,  and  she  is  also  at  the  top  with  sugar 
beet  and  potatoes.  She  has  less  permanent 
grass-land  than  any  of  the  others;  and 
though  her  capacity  to  feed  her  population 
has  fallen  steadily  with  the  growth  of  her 
towns  and  industries,  she  still  feeds  more 
persons  per  square  mile  than  any  of  her 
neighbours.  Her  consumption  per  head  of 
fruit  and  vegetables  is  higher  than  that  in 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  211 

Great  Britain,  and  yet  her  exports  of  both 
exceed  her  imports.  These  results  have  been 
obtained  without  any  tariff  protection,  save 
for  oats,  meat,  and  butter,  although  the  soil 
is  not  naturally  rich,  and  in  the  area  of  the 
Great  Plain  is  decidedly  poor.  For  all  this 
there  appear  to  be  four  main  explanations — 

(1)  The  people's  traditional  aptitude  for 
agriculture  which  originated  in  the  eighteenth 
century ; 

(2)  The  great  subdivision  of  holdings  which 
occurred  mainly  in  the  nineteenth ; 

(3)  The  development  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion ; 

(4)  The  development  of  co-operative  agen- 
cies among  the  farmers. 

The  credit  for  both  the  last  two  really  belongs 
to  the  modem  Catholic  Party ;  and  one  might 
cite  as  a  practical  illustration  of  their  effect, 
the  fact  that  Belgium  uses  a  greater  weight 
of  chemical  manures  per  square  mile  than  any 
other  country  in  the  world. 

Agricultural  education  is  organised  by  the 
State;  it  includes  both  the  special  training 
given  in  agricultural  colleges  and  more  popular 
instruction,  which  is  made  widely  available 
for  working  cultivators.  For  the  latter  pur- 
pose the  country  is  mapped  out  into  districts. 


212  BELGIUM 

to  each  of  which  a  State  expert  (agronome)  is 
attached.  These  agronomes  have  charge  of 
State  experimental  plots;  they  also  organise 
a  large  number  of  lectures  to  farmers  and 
farmers'  wives;  and  their  habit  is  to  attend 
local  markets  and  meetings  to  keep  in  personal 
touch  with  the  cultivators  and  to  give  them  as 
much  free  advice  as  they  care  to  ask  for.  The 
system  has  become  exceedingly  effective,  be- 
cause it  has  been  put  on  this  thoroughly  local 
and  personal  footing.  Although  in  too  many 
parts  of  the  country  its  final  result  has  been 
to  raise  rents  rather  than  to  enrich  the  culti- 
vators, it  has  greatly  increased  the  produc- 
tivity of  farming,  and  made  it  possible  to 
farm  land  which  before  was  not  worth  re- 
claiming. 

Although  as  we  have  said  this  education 
has  been  mainly  the  work  of  Catholic  states- 
men, it  is  in  the  Walloon  rather  than  the 
Flemish  provinces  that  it  has  been  most 
keenly  utilised.  The  State  has  also  created 
organisations  of  farmers;  but  for  most  pur- 
poses beside  the  holding  of  agricultural  shows, 
they  have  been  superseded  by  private  organisa- 
tions. The  latter  are  again  the  work  of 
Catholics;  and  from  the  famous  Boerenbond 
downwards,  are  closely  connected  with  the 
Church's    parochial    machinery.     As    a    rule 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  218 

there  is  a  separate  society  in  every  village 
and  these  are  gathered  into  large  district 
federations.  They  are  formed  for  a  great 
number  of  purposes — ^to  insure  live-stock  or 
houses,  to  improve  the  breeds  of  animals,  to 
provide  cultivators  with  capital,  to  effect  the 
co-operative  purchase  of  seeds  and  manures, 
and  to  effect  the  co-operative  handling  and 
sale  of  dairy  and  other  products.  The  village 
scale  on  which  most  of  these  societies  are 
worked  enables  their  expenses  to  be  kept 
extremely  low ;  and  for  a  great  many  of  them 
the  parish  priest,  in  a  secretarial  capacity, 
acts  as  an  unpaid  and  very  hard-working 
factotum.  The  federal  organisation  keeps 
them  on  sound  lines,  and  enables  them  to 
consolidate  their  operations,  whenever  there 
is  an  economic  advantage  in  conducting  these 
on  a  larger  scale.  The  interactions  of  this 
great  movement  with  that  of  agricultural 
education  can  be  easily  understood.  For 
instance,  if  it  is  a  question  of  artificial  manures, 
a  co-operative  purchasing  society  can  not 
only  buy  them  much  more  cheaply  for  the 
cultivator  than  he  could  buy  them  for  him- 
self, but  can  guarantee  their  quality.  The 
introduction  of  the  Raiffeisen  banking  system 
from  Germany  in  1892  gave  a  special  and  far- 
reaching  stimulus ;  and  in  hundreds  of  villages 


214  BELGIUM 

co-operative  credit  institutions  of  this  type  are 
now  firmly  established.  These  are  only  used  by 
the  smaller  cultivators.  For  the  larger  farmers 
there  are  a  number  of  larger  agricultural 
banks  {comptoirs  agricoles)  under  Government 
auspices,  which  do  a  considerable  business. 

The  co-operative  agricultural  movement, 
which  we  have  described,  does  not  differ  in 
its  general  features  from  those  which  have 
been  set  on  foot  among  the  peasants  of  Den- 
mark, Holland,  Germany,  and  latterly  of 
Ireland.  But  its  scale  and  success,  and  the 
elasticity  with  which  it  has  been  applied  to 
the  peculiar  needs  of  the  country  are  worthy 
of  admiration.  The  religio-political  philan- 
thropy, of  which  it  is  the  outcome,  rather 
than  of  any  spontaneous  action  by  the 
peasants,  takes  a  great  many  forms  in  Belgium. 
The  least  satisfactory  may  be  seen  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Poor  Law.  The  local  Poor  Law 
areas  are  the  2632  communes,  whose  indi- 
vidual resources  for  this  purpose  can  be 
augmented  by  pious  donors.  Where,  as  not 
seldom  happens,  the  funds  thus  to  be  ad- 
ministered are  considerable,  a  demoralisation 
is  apt  to  follow,  recalling  but  surpassing  what 
may  be  sometimes  noticed  in  charity-ridden 
English  Cathedral  towns.  The  scale  of  relief 
comes  to  be  varied  according  to  the  religion 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  215 

and  politics  of  the  recipient,  and  there  has 
even  been  a  not  infrequent  tendency  to  pay 
grants  in  relief  of  low  wages. 

Belgian  philanthropy,  though  not  the  mono- 
poly of  the  Catholic  party,  has  its  roots  in 
the  practice  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  has 
not  always  purged  away  its  mediaeval  features. 
But  it  often  works,  and  has  sometimes  been 
a  pioneer,  in  admirable  and  ultra-modem 
directions.  We  might  quote  two  examples 
from  a  single  locality.  One  is  the  famous 
'•'  Ghent  system "  of  insurance  against  un- 
employment (since  copied  in  England  and 
elsewhere),  whereby  public  grants  were  made 
to  trade  unions  in  proportion  to  their  ex- 
penditure on  unemployment  benefit.  The 
other  is  the  institution  of  "  schools  for 
mothers,"  which  during  the  last  ten  years 
has  been  so  successfully  used  to  reduce  in- 
fantile mortality  in  most  civilised  countries. 
This  idea  originated  with  Dr.  Van  Miele  of 
Ghent,  who  started  the  first  "  school  for 
mothers  "  in  1901  in  that  city. 

It  remains  for  us  briefly  to  notice  the  social 
poUcy  of  the  Belgian  State.  Till  1886  it 
scarcely  existed;  and  it  is  still  backward. 
The  Liberals  disliked  State  interference  any- 
where; the  Catholics  were  suspicious  of  its 
intrusion  upon  what  they  considered  to  be 


216  BELGIUM 

the  province  of  religion  and  charity.  So  far 
as  concerns  the  fostering  of  industry  and 
agriculture,  the  national  line  has  been  toler- 
ably clear.  Belgium  puts  little  trust  in  pro- 
tective tariffs,  but  much  in  State-provided 
facilities  for  transport.  She  has  almost  the 
lowest  tariff  on  the  Continent;  wheat  and 
many  necessaries  come  in  free;  and  the 
average  customs  duty  on  the  dutiable  articles 
is  less  than  1*5  per  cent.  On  the  other  hand, 
her  State-controlled  railway  and  canal  system 
have  been,  as  we  have  shown,  the  mainspring 
of  her  modern  development.  What,  then,  of 
factory  legislation,  of  mines  regulation,  of 
sanitary  and  housing  legislation — in  a  word, 
of  all  the  machinery  of  State  interference 
by  which  modern  countries  seek  to  safeguard 
the  wage-earner  and  his  family  from  the 
worst  of  the  oppressions,  against  which  they 
are  individually  powerless  ?  What  has  been 
done  by  the  State,  in  this  land  of  low  wages 
and  high  illiteracy,  to  avert  the  grinding  of 
the  faces  of  the  poor  ? 

There  have  been  two  chief  periods  of  social 
legislation.  The  first  was  after  the  revolu- 
tionary upheaval  of  the  Walloon  workers  in 
1886.  M.  Beemaert,  who  was  then  the 
Catholic  Prime  Minister,  represented  the  pro- 
gressive wing  of  his  party.    A  statesman  of 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  217 

much  culture,  an  eminent  international  law- 
yer, and  a  Catholic  deeply  penetrated  with 
the  spirit  of  which  Leo  XIII's  encyclical 
Rerum  Novarum  is  the  best-known  expression, 
he  succeeded  in  carrying  a  series  of  humani- 
tarian laws  in  the  face  of  strong  opposition 
both  from  the  laisser-faire  Liberals  and  from 
the  more  Conservative  elements  on  his  own 
side  of  the  Chamber.  The  Liberal  attitude 
in  these  matters  had  perhaps  not  a  little  to 
do  with  the  sensational  repudiation  of  Liberal- 
ism by  the  enlarged  electorate  in  1894.  M. 
Beernaert's  work  comprised  a  law  prohibiting 
the  truck  system  (1887);  a  factory  law  ex- 
cluding children  under  twelve  from  factories 
and  fixing  hours  of  labour  for  male  workers 
under  sixteen  and  females  under  twenty-one 
(1889);  an  important  Housing  Law  (1889); 
and  a  law  on  Friendly  Societies  (1894).  These 
laws,  excepting  the  last  but  one,  were  not 
intrinsically  remarkable;  for  instance,  the 
restriction  of  factory  hours  left  them  ex- 
ceedingly long.  Yet  a  start  had  been  made. 
Unfortunately  M.  Beemaert  ceased  to  be 
Prime  Minister  in  1894  owing  to  a  dispute 
with  his  party  over  Proportional  Representa- 
tion; and  during  the  following  ten  years  his 
influence  with  successive  governments  was 
eclipsed    by    the    reactionary    influence    of 


218  BELGIUM 

M.  Woeste.  Legislation  was  initiated  in 
various  new  directions,  but  always  kept 
within  the  narrowest  limits.  For  instance, 
in  1900  a  law  was  passed  comprising  an  old- 
age  pension  on  workmen  over  sixty-five  who 
were  in  need ;  but  the  amount  paid  was  fixed 
at  Is.  per  week.  An  official  inquiry  in  1895 
showed  that  35  per  cent,  of  the  industrial 
workers  were  employed  seven  days  per  week ; 
but  it  was  not  till  1905  that  a  law  enjoined  a 
six-day  limit  save  where  special  exemptions 
were  granted  (as  they  since  have  too  freely 
been).  Meanwhile,  there  grew  up  within  the 
Catholic  party  a  young  and  able  group  of 
Parliamentarians,  who  inherited  M.  Beernaert's 
spirit  and  wished  to  carry  social  legislation 
much  further  than  he  had  been  able  to  do. 
After  years  of  bickering  with  th^  dominant 
Conservative  school  represented  by  such  men 
as  MM.  Woeste  and  Delbeke,  this  party  of  the 
"  Young  Right "  brought  things  to  a  crisis  in 
1907,  when,  with  the  veteran  M.  Beernaert's 
co-operation,  it  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  on  the 
Government  over  the  question  of  limiting  the 
hours  of  miners.  The  shock  of  this  victory 
was  considerable.  It  was  accentuated  by  a 
victory  of  the  same  party  in  the  following 
year  on  another  class  issue — ^the  question 
whether  conscripts  drawn  for  military  service 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  219 

should  be  allowed,  if  rich  enough,  to  purchase 
exemption.  The  rebels  obtained  a  footing  in 
the  Cabinet,  which  has  been  steadily  in- 
creased; and  in  the  1911-1914  Ministry  of 
Baron  de  Broqueville  their  influence  was 
definitely  in  the  ascendant.  So  began  a 
second  era  of  social  legislation,  cut  short  by 
the  outbreak  of  war.  We  mentioned  in  the 
last  chapter  the  enactment  of  compulsory 
education  by  this  Cabinet.  Almost  contem- 
poraneously it  carried  a  great  measure  of 
National  Insurance  against  sickness,  invalidity, 
and  old  age.  This  law  is  mainly  modelled 
after  German  and  English  legislation.  It  has 
been  grafted  on  a  Pensions  Law  of  March 
1911  and  on  a  long  series  of  measures 
whereby  the  State  had  subsidised  thrift 
societies;  ^and  it  adopts  the  principle  of 
obligatory  contributions  to  be  paid  in  cer- 
tain proportions  by  the  insured  and  the  em- 
ployer and  supplemented  by  the  State.  The 
many  existing  insurance  and  benefit  societies 
are  brought  into  the  machinery  of  the  scheme. 
Down  to  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War 
its  prospects  of  working  were  satisfactory; 
but  it  was  too  recent  for  an  opinion  to  be 
formed  of  its  ultimate  success.  It  is  an 
interesting  example  of  the  trend  in  such 
matters;    but  its  terms  are  not  sufficiently 


220  BELGIUM 

generous  for  a  country  like  Great  Britain  to 
learn  much  from  it. 

The  only  one  of  M.  Beernaert's  laws  whose 
working  has  shown  better  results  than  those 
obtained  in  other  countries  is  the  Housing 
Law  of  1889.  Its  object  was  twofold — to 
stimulate  warfare  against  slumdom,  and  to 
enable  workmen  to  get  new  houses  built  for 
them.  For  the  first,  it  did  not  need  to  confer 
new  powers  on  the  local  authorities ;  for  the 
Burgomasters  have  from  early  times  had  most 
drastic  powers  (if  they  care  to  use  them)  over 
unsatisfactory  buildings.  What  it  did  was 
to  set  up  local  committees,  nominated  partly 
by  the  Central  Government  and  partly  by  the 
Provincial  Councils,  with  the  duty  of  im- 
proving housing  conditions.  At  the  same 
time  it  carried  out  its  second  object  so  in- 
geniously that  workmen  have  been  able  at 
low  interest  to  borrow  up  to  nine-tenths  of 
the  money  requisite  to  buy  a  site  and  build 
a  cottage  on  it.  The  machinery  was  rather 
like  that  adopted  for  building  light  railways. 
The  money  is  lent  by  the  National  Savings 
Bank  (empowered  by  the  Housing  Law  to 
lend  for  this  purpose  up  to  a  fixed  limit); 
and  it  is  lent  to  local  Credit  Associations. 
These  are  companies  formed  of  philanthropic 
and    substantial    people,    who    subscribe    a 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  221 

nominal  capital  and  pay  up  one-tenth  of  it, 
their  liability  for  the  other  nine-tenths  being 
the  bank's  security.  Interest  on  their  shares 
is  limited  to  3  per  cent.  The  workman  who 
desires  a  house  borrows  from  the  Credit 
Association  at  a  rate  of  interest  only  a  frac- 
tion above  what  the  bank  charges.  He  also 
repays  the  principal  by  instalments  (within 
twenty-five  years),  and  pays  an  additional 
1  per  cent,  to  insure  his  life.  His  total  pay- 
ments on  the  borrowed  capital  are  about 
7J  per  cent,  till  redemption,  when  he  becomes 
the  owner  of  his  house. 

In  the  years  1890-1905  no  less  than  141,439 
houses  were  built  for  workmen  purchasers  in 
this  way.  By  1910  there  were  208  Credit 
Associations  at  work,  and  about  110,000  work- 
men had  been  enabled  to  become  owners  of 
their  houses.  The  low  cost  of  building  in 
Belgium  and  the  marvellous  facilities  for  loco- 
motion have  both  co-operated  towards  these 
results.  In  1914  the  analogy  with  the  light 
railway  legislation  was  increased  by  a  law 
instituting  a  National  Society  of  Cheap  Dwell- 
ings to  serve  as  the  crown  of  the  system. 
Housing  is,  on  the  whole  perhaps,  the  brightest 
spot  in  the  Belgian  worker's  outlook;  it  is 
certainly  the  one  where  State  intervention 
has  been  most  wisely  directed. 


CHAPTER  X 

ART   AND   LITERATURE 

When  Pausanias  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian 
roamed  amid  the  dead  past  of  Greece,  he 
observed  that  for  every  good  Greek  poem  you 
could  find  a  multitude  of  good  sculptures — 
the  latter  indeed  were  everywhere.  Sub- 
stitute paintings  for  sculptures,  and  the 
remark  is  true  of  Belgium.  In  their  great 
historic  epochs  the  genius  of  the  people  was 
not  turned  to  literature.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  the  better  known  French  writers  of  those 
periods — Philippe  de  Comines,  for  instance, 
and  Froissart — came  from  the  Low  Countries ; 
and  later  the  war  against  Philip  II  produced 
one  great  writer,  Marnix  de  St.  Aldegonde. 
But  these  are  little  in  the  balance  as  against 
the  great  mass  of  painting  in  Flanders  and 
Brabant  during  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and 
seventeenth  centuries.  In  the  modem  period, 
since  the  Revolution  of  1830,  the  disparity  is 
less  marked.  Belgian  literature,  both  in  the 
French  language  and  the  Flemish,  has  some 
222 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         223 

very  great  names ;  and  these  are  not  isolated 
phenomena,  but  the  outstanding  figures  of 
considerable  schools.  Since  the  Revolution 
more  than  100,000  distinct  works  have  been 
published  in  Belgium,  and  a  number  relatively 
even  greater  of  reviews  and  periodicals. 
Nevertheless  it  remains  true  that  painting  is 
the  people's  characteristic  art;  and  taking 
the  modern  period  alone,  where  you  find  tens 
or  scores  of  remarkable  books,  you  find  many 
hundreds  of  remarkable  pictures.  Of  the  latter, 
it  is  hardly  too  much  to  repeat  Pausanias' 
phrase  that  "  they  are  everywhere." 

The  decay  of  Belgian  town  life  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  accompanied  by  the 
almost  total  eclipse  of  Flemish  painting.  The 
traditions  of  Rubens,  Jordaens,  Van  Dyck,  and 
Teniers  had  no  one  to  carry  them  on,  and 
a  few  graceful  colourists,  like  Lens,  alone 
lightened  the  darkness.  With  the  rule  of 
Napoleon  over  Belgium,  its  art  became 
dominated  by  the  alien  classicism  of  David ; 
and  towards  1830  the  painters  of  this  school 
represented  at  least  a  numerical  revival. 
None  of  them  are  now  worth  recalling,  save 
perhaps  the  portrait  painter,  F.  J.  Navez. 
But  with  the  political  revolution  came  some- 
thing like  a  resurrection  of  Belgian  art,  and 
it  has  shown  remarkable  vigour  ever  since. 


224  BELGIUM 

The  late  Camille  Lemoimier  once  grouped  its 
developments  under  four  periods,  or  four 
successive  impulses ;  and  if  the  reader  is 
careful  to  remember  that  all  these  periods  to 
some  extent  overlap,  and  the  birth  of  one 
impulse  can  be  traced  much  earlier  than  the 
exhaustion  of  another,  he  may  find  the  classi- 
fication helpful. 

The  first  period  extends  roughly  from  1830- 
1850;  its  art  is  romantic,  heroic,  dramatic  and 
patrician;  its  productions  were  historical 
pictures.  "The  second  impulse  was  at  its 
height  between  1850  and  1870;  it  is  bourgeois 
and  realistic ;  its  output  was  genre  painting. 
The  third  period,  some  of  whose  exponents 
are  still  aUve,  was  a  period  of  art  for  art's 
sake,  with  a  return  to  the  spirit,  though  not 
the  technique,  of  the  age  of  Rubens.  Its 
work  is  full  of  red  blood,  pagan,  sensuous, 
exultant,  lavish  in  its  manifestations  of  life. 
Its  subjects  and  technique  were  exceedingly 
varied ;  but  it  found  its  most  typical  expres- 
sion in  landscape,  the  expression  of  a  Nature- 
worshipping  pantheism.  The  fourth  period 
has  continued  and  developed  the  third  in  the 
direction  of  a  subtler  perception  of  light  and 
the  influences  of  light  upon  forms ;  with  more 
consciousness,  too,  of  the  mystery  of  life 
behind  its  external  manifestations. 


ART  AND  LITERATURE  225 

All  these  schools  show  the  influence  of 
Paris.  The  first  coincides  with  the  French 
romantic  movement,  of  Delacroix  and  Dela- 
roche  in  painting,  and  Hugo's  Hernani  in 
literature.  The  second  is  in  touch  with  the 
genre  painting  of  the  Second  Empire,  which 
had  its  literary  counterpart  in  the  drama  of 
Dumas  fils.  The  third  owed  much  at  the  out- 
set to  such  influences  as  Courbet,  and  also  to 
the  landscapists  of  the  Barbizon  school.  The 
fourth  includes  followers  of  the  impressionists, 
the  pointillistes,  the  symbolists,  the  post- 
impressionists,  and  other  recent  movements 
in  French  painting.  Nevertheless,  with  some 
exceptions,  the  Belgian  painters  have  a 
decided  national  character  of  their  own. 

The  first  period  unites  to  the  romanticism 
of  1830  something  of  the  technique  and  the 
large  manner  of  Rubens ;  but  it  is  impossible 
to-day  to  be  enthusiastic  over  many  of  its 
examples.  The  ambitious  painter  who  in- 
augurated it,  Wappers,  was  a  lover  of  large 
designs ;  and  the  rest  of  his  school — artists 
such  as  De  Keyzer,  Gallait,  and  Slingeneyer — 
vied  with  one  another  in  the  size  of  their 
compositions.  Their  vast  canvases,  crowded 
with  life-size  figures,  have  a  physical  pro- 
minence in  the  Brussels  gallery  of  modern 
painting  which  can    easily  give  the  casual 

H 


226  BELGIUM 

visitor  a  false  impression  of  Belgian  art  as  a 
whole.  Yet  by  making  the  great  epochs  of 
Flemish,  Brabant,  and  Burgundian  history 
live  again  before  the  eyes  of  the  emancipated 
people,  these  men  of  the  'thirties  and  'forties 
played  their  part  in  the  national  revival. 
Contemporary  with  them,  and  sharing  their 
apprenticeship  to  Rubens  as  well  as  their 
exaggerated  cult  of  size,  was  Antoine  Wiertz, 
whose  work  is  preserved  at  Brussels  in  a 
separate  collection.  Wiertz  had  in  him  so 
much  of  the  charlatan,  and  his  appeal  to  the 
popular  sight-seer  has  so  largely  been  made  on 
that  side,  that  it  is  easy  to  overlook  the 
quality  of  his  more  serious  efforts  and  of  his 
technique  at  its  best. 

The  one  great  creative  genius  of  this  period 
was  Henri  Leys,  who  among  the  historical 
painters  not  only  of  Belgium,  but  of  Europe, 
holds  quite  a  unique  place.  Leys  also  learned 
his  methods  in  his  own  country;  though  he 
went  for  them  to  the  painters  of  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  particularly  those  of 
the  Brabant  school,  from  Roger  Van  der 
Weyden  down  to  B.  Van  Orley  and  the  elder 
Breughel.  But  the  style  which  he  developed 
was  his  own ;  and  his  subjects,  mostly  chosen 
from  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  are  all 
transfused  by  his  individual  temperament, 
with  its  brooding  vision,  its  deep  sense  of 


ART  AND  LITERATURE  227 

tragedy,  and  a  sort  of  aristocratic  reserve. 
Leys  was  a  wealthy  nobleman ;  he  painted  to 
please  nobody  but  himself;  and  he  trans- 
mitted to  none  of  his  imitators  the  secret  of 
his  originality. 

In  the  succeeding  period,  of  genre  painting, 
the  typical  figures  are  Alfred  Stevens  and 
Henri  de  Braeckeleer.  Stevens'  development 
was  purely  Parisian.  He  learned  his  art  in 
the  school  of  the  Second  Empire,  and  carried 
sheer  virtuosity  in  the  use  of  the  brush  to  a 
point  at  which  all  Paris  worshipped  it.  But 
his  achievement  had  as  little  to  do  with  the 
Art  of  his  native  country — past,  present,  or 
future — as  the  Parisian  ladies  and  Mont- 
martre  studios,  which  were  the  subjects  of  its 
cleverness,  had  to  do  with  the  scenes  and 
people  of  Brabant  or  Flanders.  The  genius 
of  De  Braeckeleer,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
essentially  Belgian.  His  spiritual  ancestor 
is  David  Teniers;  but  he  was  a  man  of  his 
own  time.  His  sunny  Flemish  interiors,  the 
bright  faces  of  his  old  people,  and  the  happy 
romping  of  his  children,  are  both  original  and 
national.  They  are  something  which  he  has 
seen,  and  could  only  have  seen,  just  as  they 
are,  in  his  own  country.  He  stands  out  over 
his  period,  as  Leys  does  over  his,  each  repre- 
senting the  point  at  which  their  respective 
schools  touched  immortality. 


228  BELGIUM 

Contemporary  with  Stevens  and  De  Braeck- 
eleer  was  a  remarkable  artist,  whom  it  is 
hard  to  place,  Charles  de  Groux.  He  has 
been  called  a  kind  of  Millet  of  the  poor  of  great 
towns;  and  he  depicted  with  much  power 
and  gloom  the  bareness,  the  hunger,  the 
poignancy,  and  the  tragedy  of  life  under  slum 
conditions.  There  is  no  exaggeration  in  De 
Groux ;  he  was  not  a  propagandist  or  a  social 
reformer ;  but  he  felt  with  a  simple  directness 
the  intense  suffering  of  others,  and  rendered 
his  feeling  on  canvas  not  less  directly.  His 
technique  was  extremely  good,  and  some  of 
its  features,  such  as  the  black  emphasis  of 
outlines,  have  been  commoner  since  than 
before;  indeed,  not  the  least  remarkable 
feature  of  his  painting  is  its  date.  Spiritually 
he  is  the  forerimner  of  some  of  the  best  work 
done  within  the  last  generation. 

The  third  period  really  opens  with  the 
advent  about  1870  of  the  Naturalist  School 
of  the  "Art  Libre."  The  first  leaders  of 
this  were  the  Walloons,  Rops  and  Artan,  and 
the  Flemings,  Eugene  Smits  and  Verw6e. 
Rops  showed  his  forceful  and  somewhat  acrid 
talent  as  an  etcher.  Artan  stands  out  as  the 
first  of  the  Belgian  sea-painters.  Smits,  with 
a  Keatsian  sense  of  what  is  authentic  and 
permanent  in  Paganism,  excelled  in  painting 
the  figure.    Verw^,  who  found  his  landscapes 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         229 

and  cows  in  the  pastoral  portions  of  the  great 
Belgian  plain,  was  the  most  Flemish  and  the 
most  naturalistic  of  the  group.  What  dis- 
tinguishes them  all  s  their  predilection  for  the 
open  air ;  their  striving  to  get  clear,  not  only 
from  the  traditicfns  of  the  studio,  but  even 
from  its  physical  presence;  their  search  for 
beauty  in  the  world  of  natural  objects,  in  the 
sea  and  the  meadows  and  the  rivers,  the 
eternal  youth  of  the  forests  and  the  illimitable 
horizons  of  the  great  plain.  Perhaps  Verw6e, 
with  his  unique  rendering  of  the  spaces  of 
Flanders,  should  be  ranked  as  the  most 
permanently  successful. 

The  "  Art  Libre  "  unlocked  floodgates  of 
varied  talent ;  and  since  then  Belgian  art  has 
never  run  in  a  well-defined  channel.  The 
paintings  of  Constantin  Meunier  belong  to  this 
period ;  but  though  full  of  individuality  they 
lack  that  mastery  of  the  medium,  which  he 
afterwards  attained  as  a  sculptor.  The  initi- 
ator of  the  fourth  period  which  we  have 
described — and  still  in  some  ways  its  greatest 
figure — was  ]fimile  Claus.  It  is  easy,  and 
possibly  true,  to  say  that  Claus  would  never 
have  found  his  method  if  Claude  Monet  had 
not  painted  before  him ;  nevertheless  it  is  an 
individual  method,  and  has  brought  some- 
thing new  into  the  world.  No  one  before  had 
shown    with   such   immediacy    the    brilliant 


230  BELGIUM 

colours  of  natural  objects  in  sunlight — not 
the  sunlight  of  the  Mediterranean  coasts, 
which  quenches  colours  in  its  white  glare, 
but  the  clear  temperate  sunlight  of  Flanders, 
which  gives  them  their  fullest  possible  value. 
There  is  very  little  in  M.  Claus's  landscapes 
which  is  obtrusively  local;  yet  when  one 
knows  he  is  a  native  of  Ghent,  that  region  of 
horticulture  and  flower-growing  set  in  the 
coloured  and  chequered  Flemish  plain,  one 
has  an  important  key  to  his  work.  It  has 
had  many  imitators,  but  no  rival. 

The  delicate  study  of  light  which  forms  the 
basis  of  Claus's  painting  may  be  also  seen  in 
the  very  different  work  of  Verstraeten,  in 
whose  landscapes  there  is  a  grave  and  melan- 
choly note,  echoing  the  more  stoical  emotions 
of  the  race.  Among  many  imitators  of  the 
French  pointillistes,  one  might  mention  Van 
Rysselberghe  as  perhaps  the  most  interesting. 
Few  Belgian  painters  show  any  trace  of 
English  influence ;  but  an  exception  might  be 
made  of  F.  Knopff,  a  very  clever  eclectic  who 
owes  a  little  to  the  Pre-Raphaelites.  In  a 
category  by  itself  comes  the  work  of  Jean 
Delville,  whose  classic  forms  and  imaginative 
idealism  have  had  some  vogue  outside  Belgium. 
But  the  most  considerable  Belgian  painter 
since  6mile  Claus  is  L6on  Fr^d^ric,  a  Walloon, 
who  depicts  the  bald  cultivated  landscapes 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         231 

that  lie  between  the  towns  of  the  South,  and 
the  hard  patient  life  of  their  toilers.  He  has 
worked  out  a  technique  of  his  own,  peculiarly 
adapted  to  his  subjects ;  and  there  is  a  depth 
of  perception  in  his  treatment  of  labour 
which  brings  his  painting  at  times  into  the 
region  of  Meunier's  sculpture.  But  whereas 
in  Meunier  the  tragedy  of  the  worker  is  always 
accompanied  by  a  sense  of  exultation  in  his 
strength,  in  Frederic  the  impression  is  of  pity 
and  hardship  only. 

In  this  brief  sketch  of  Belgian  painting  we 
have  mentioned  but  few  names,  and  omitted 
many  which  have  deservedly  a  high  national 
reputation ;  nor  has  anything  been  said  of 
the  very  latest  aspirants  to  public  notice, 
whose  claims  are  still  being  canvassed  and 
disputed.  It  is  difficult  in  short  compass  to 
give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  fertility  of 
Belgian  painting.  Of  course,  neither  Ant- 
werp, Brussels,  nor  Ghent,  can  compare,  as  an 
international  Art  centre,  with  Paris  or  Rome ; 
but  the  Belgian  nation  is,  in  proportion  to  its 
size,  producing  far  more  painting — and  more 
good  painting — ^than  the  French,  or  indeed 
any  contemporary  nation.  Cosmopolitanism 
and  the  influence  of  Paris,  which  is  geographic- 
ally so  near,  are  a  certain  danger  for  it,  as 
they  are  for  Belgian  literature.  The  Royal 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  Antwerp  has  rendered 


232  BELGIUM 

valuable  service  in  preserving  a  national 
tradition ;  but  the  real  basis  of  this  tradition 
must  be  sought  in  the  multitude  of  master- 
pieces, which  are  scattered  everywhere  through 
the  towns,  in  churches,  public  galleries,  and 
private  collections. 

In  sculpture,  unlike  painting,  the  country 
has  nothing  great  to  show  before  the  nine- 
teenth century;  but  since  1830  it  has  come 
gradually  to  take  an  important  place.  The 
sculptors  of  the  first  two  generations  were 
mediocre  and  conscientious  artists,  who  owed 
whatever  merit  they  possessed  to  Paris.  But 
about  the  time  when  the  "  Art  Libre  "  flooded 
Belgian  painting,  a  new  life  came  into  sculp- 
ture also.  In  the  work  of  Paul  de  Vigne 
grace  and  beauty  are  expressed  with  a  certain 
real  distinction ;  and  the  same  qualities,  with 
an'  added  power  and  originality,  characterise 
the  remarkable  sculptor,  C.  Vanderstappen. 
The  vigorous  and  racy  groups  of  Jef  Lam- 
beaux  come  later;  and  on  the  threshold  of 
the  twentieth  century  special  mention  is  due 
to  the  genius  of  Julien  Dillens,  prematurely 
cut  off,  whose  figures  for  tombs  and  cemeteries 
attain  a  rare  and  pure  pathos  by  very  simple 
and  solely  sculptural  means.  But  by  far  the 
greatest  artist  in  Belgian  sculpture  stands 
outside  this  succession.  Constantin  Meunier, 
to  whom  we  briefly  alluded  above,  began  life 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         233 

as  a  painter ;  and  it  was  not  till  he  was  past 
middle  age  that  he  turned  seriously  to  the 
sister  art.  He  then  struck  out  an  entirely 
original  vein  :  and  studying  the  living  forms 
ol  the  workers,  whom  he  saw  round  him  in  the 
Walloon  district — coal-heavers,  iron-puddlers, 
glass-blowers,  stone-cutters,  and  the  like — he 
made  himself  the  sculptor  of  modem  labour. 
The  power  and  spontaneity  of  his  conceptions 
is  matched  by  a  masterly  execution ;  and  the 
body  of  work  which  he  left  at  his  death  was 
such  as  no  nineteenth-century  sculptor,  except- 
ing M.  Rodin,  has  equalled.  This  work  is 
still  quite  insufficiently  known  in  England  and 
America;  where  indeed  there  has  been 
scarcely  any  opportunity  of  seeing  it.  But  it 
may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  better  it  is 
known,  the  more  highly  it  will  rank;  among 
competent  critics  it  has  never  encountered 
a  dissentient  voice.  Modern  Belgian  art  has 
scarcely  produced  anything  greater;  but  it 
stands  quite  by  itself,  apart  from  almost  the 
whole  artistic  tradition  of  the  nation.  This 
may  be  because  the  tradition  is  essentially 
Flemish,  and  Meunier  is  essentially  Walloon. 
Throughout  Flemish  painting — and  the  same 
is  true  of  Flemish  architecture,  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  Cloth  Hall  at  Ypres — there 
is  a  marked  lack  of  that  clear,  logical  unity  of 
conception  and  structure,  which  one  admires, 

B3 


234  BELGIUM 

for  instance,  in  the  greatest  buildings  of  the 
French  Gothic.  Meunier  has  this  quality, 
so  peculiarly  necessary  for  the  highest  sculp- 
ture ;  so  that  if  you  were  to  knock  a  head  or 
an  arm  off  one  of  his  figures,  it  would,  like  a 
Greek  statue,  remain  living  and  eloquent. 

Meunier  has  left  behind  him  at  least  one 
able  disciple,  Victor  Rousseau.  He  has  done 
some  remarkable  work;  but  he  lacks  the 
originating  genius  of  his  master. 

If  we  turn  now  to  Belgian  literature,  we 
find  it  bisected  by  the  barrier  of  languages. 
There  is  a  French  literature,  and  a  Flemish 
literature.  There  is  even  a  third,  a  Walloon 
literature;  but  regarding  the  last  it  may  be 
sufficient  to  remark  that  though  a  good  deal 
has  been  printed  in  this  curious  speech,  it 
scarcely  seems  to  have  produced  a  Mistral  or 
a  Bums  with  claims  on  the  wider  European 
public.  French  was  declared  the  official 
language  by  the  Constitution  of  1830 ;  and  it 
was  then,  as  it  is  now,  spoken  by  the  upper 
classes  throughout  Belgium.  It  had  been 
spoken  in  Flanders  since  the  Middle  Ages; 
and  the  old  aristocracy  were  quite  content. 
The  workers  had  less  reason  to  be.  It  was 
not  till  1873,  that  a  Flemish  prisoner  charged 
with  crime  could  be  tried  in  any  but  the  French 
language,  however  ignorant  of  it  he  might 
personally  be.    The  law  redressing  this  hard- 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         235 

ship  was  followed  in  1878  by  one  which 
directed  all  official  announcements  in  the 
Flemish-speaking  provinces  to  be  issued  in 
Flemish,  or  in  the  two  languages.  Flemish 
has  now  long  enjoyed  equality  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools ;  and  one  of  the  aims  of  flamingant- 
isme  is  to  secure  a  similar  equality  in  higher 
and  even  university  education.  But  to  this 
ambition  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
practical  objections  from  the  standpoint  of 
commerce  and  science  seem  to  be  considerable. 
Between  1830  and  1870  there  was  much 
book-making  in  French,  but  little  literature. 
Men  wrote  industriously  about  Belgian 
politics,  Belgian  antiquities,  the  forgotten 
glories  of  Belgian  history,  and  so  forth. 
Their  work  covered,  with  less  distinction, 
the  ground  of  the  historical  painters.  It 
was  not  till  1857  that  the  first  book  of  genius 
appeared.  Charles  de  Coster  (1827-79)  was 
a  civil  servant,  the  son  of  a  Li^ge  man.  He 
immersed  himself  in  the  Flemish  lore  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  and  was 
also  a  keen  student  of  Rabelais  and  Mon- 
taigne. He  held  that  the  spirit  of  old 
Flanders  could  not  be  expressed  in  modern 
French,  and  wrote  the  best  of  his  works 
in  the  French  of  their  period.  These  were 
Ligendes  flamandes  (1857),  and  the  Ligende 
de  Thyl   Uylenspiegd  et  de  Lamme  Goedzak 


236  BELGIUM 

(1867).  The  latter  is  really  a  national  prose 
epic.  Its  full  recognition  was  deferred  for 
many  years,  till  it  was  translated  into  modern 
French  and  Flemish;  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  now  that  it  is  a  very  important  work, 
entirely  native  in  its  inspiration.  Thyl  is 
an  incarnation  of  the  soul  of  the  Flemish 
people;  and  the  story  of  his  resurrection  was 
taken  as  a  parable  of  its  destiny.  But  De 
Coster  died  in  poverty  and  discouragement; 
most  of  his  glory  has  been  posthumous. 
The  only  writer  of  genius  among  his  Belgian 
contemporaries  was  Octave  Pirmez;  the 
author  of  tales  and  reflections  more  French 
in  their  affinities,  with  an  air  of  proud 
melancholy  and  autumnal  passion  recalling 
Vigny  or  Chateaubriand. 

So  far  as  regards  writings  in  the  French 
language,  the  main  movement  in  Belgian 
literature  did  not  get  under  weigh  till  a 
decade  after  the  rejuvenation  of  painting 
by  the  "  Art  Libre."  Its  pioneers  were 
Camille  Lemonnier,  Edmond  Picard,  and 
Victor  Arnould.  In  1882  Picard  founded  the 
review  UAri  Moderne  ;  and  about  the  same 
time  there  appeared  a  number  of  similar 
periodicals.  La  Jeune  Belgiqice,  La  Walloniej 
and  La  SociStS  Nouvelle,  which  combined  with 
it  to  create  a  new  literary  impulse.  Lemon- 
nier, a  Fleming,  born  in  1844,  had  published 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         237 

his  first  book,  Nos  Flamands,  in  1869;  but 
Un  Male  (1881)  and  Le  Mori  (1882)  are  pro- 
bably his  masterpieces.  His  long  and  fecund 
literary  life  extended  into  the  twentieth 
century;  and  his  late  novels,  Adam  et  tlve 
(1899)  and  Au  Cceur  Frais  de  la  Forit  (1901), 
preaching  a  return  to  nature,  are  not  the 
least  striking  of  his  books.  In  his  different 
novels  he  studied  types  of  all  classes  and 
regions  in  Belgium;  he  was  a  realist,  a 
naturalist,  a  romanticist,  and  a  symbolist 
by  turns;  and  his  essays  in  literary  and 
artistic  criticism,  as  well  as  those  descriptive 
of  Belgian  localities,  had  an  awakening 
influence  on  his  countrymen.  His  prose 
style  is  somewhat  extravagant,  but  embodies 
the  national  qualities  of  colour  and  force. 
Picard  was  a  different,  but  admirable  type. 
A  leader  of  the  Belgian  Bar,  the  main  author 
of  the  most  learned  of  Belgian  law-books, 
an  active  politician  and  later  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Socialist  party  in  the  Senate,  he 
was  far  too  busy  to  become  a  very  great 
writer;  though  some  of  his  short  novels. 
La  Forge  Roussel  or  VAmiral,  are  still 
worth  reading  as  the  expression  of  a  deep 
and  powerful  mind.  But  as  a  literary  critic 
he  had  a  rare  gift  for  discerning  the  talents  of 
others  and  stimulating  their  best  use.  No  one 
did  more  than  he  to  assert  Belgian  national 


238  BELGIUM 

independence  in  the  field  of  literature. 
Arnould,  an  able  reviewer,  seconded  his  work. 

The  new  school  has  produced  both  prose- 
w^riters  and  poets.  Of  the  former  the  most 
noticeable,  beside  those  already  mentioned, 
are  Eekhoud  and  G.  Rodenbach.  Eekhoud, 
born  in  1854  in  the  Campine  near  Antwerp, 
is  the  most  Flemish  of  the  group.  The 
heroes  of  his  novels  (the  best  known  perhaps 
are  Kees  Doorik  and  Les  Kermesses)  are 
usually  vagabonds,  outlaws,  ne'er-do-wells, 
the  failures  of  life;  the  atmosphere  is  one 
of  penetrating  and  somewhat  benumbing 
tragedy.  Georges  Rodenbach  (1855-98)  was 
less  autochthonous.  He  went  early  to  Paris, 
and  sat  at  the  feet  of  Edmond  de  Goncourt. 
He  wrote  poetry,  which  shows  the  influence 
of  Coppee  and  Sully-Prudhomme.  It  was 
only  towards  the  end  of  his  life  that  his 
mind  reverted  to  his  native  Flanders.  But 
the  prose  which  he  then  produced,  especially 
Bruges  la  Morte  (1892),  is  a  peculiarly  delicate 
evocation  of  the  spirit  of  the  dead  Flemish 
cities,  the  more  delicate  because  not  written 
in  their  presence,  but  distilled  through  the 
processes  of  memory.  A  more  cheerful  art 
steeped  in  romance  and  folklore,  not  dwelling 
on  the  death  of  these  cities  but  re-animating 
their  ancient  life,  is  that  of  Eugene  Demolder. 

With  two  exceptions,  the  numerous  poets 


ART  AND  LITERATURE        239 

of  the  movement  have  produced  little  that 
lives.  Giraud,  Iwan  Gilkin,  Val^re  Gille, 
disciples  of  the  French  Parnassians  and 
Baudelaire,  Fernand  Severin,  follower  of 
Racine — they  are  interesting  but  minor  bards. 
Among  the  very  latest  writers  one  or  two  have 
risen  who  may  do  more  permanent  work. 
But  the  figures  which  at  present  stand  out 
still  unrivalled  are  those  of  !fimile  Verhaeren 
and  Maurice  Maeterlinck.  Verhaeren,  born 
near  Antwerp  in  1855,  and  a  school  friend 
of  Rodenbach  at  Ghent,  was  an  active 
protagonist  of  the  movement  in  the  reviews 
of  the  'eighties.  The  first  stage  of  his  poetry, 
typified  by  Les  Flamandes  (1883)  and  Les 
Moines  (1886),  is  characterised  by  robust 
impressionism  running  to  violence,  the  verse 
still  remaining  within  regular  French  metres. 
With  Les  Soirs  (1887)  and  other  volumes, 
we  pass  to  psychological  studies;  and  in 
the  next  decade  with  Campagnes  hallucinies 
(1893)  and  Les  Villes  Teniaculaires  (1895), 
the  poet  attains  his  full  strength.  Techni- 
cally he  has  liberated  himself  from  most 
of  the  conventions  of  the  French  lyric,  and 
developed  an  organ-music  of  his  own;  keep- 
ing closer  to  the  sentence-accent  of  the 
spoken  word,  and  piling  up  massive  effects 
by  means  of  assonances  and  rhymes  within 
the  lines.     At  the  same  time  the  personalities 


240  BELGIUM 

of  his  verse  cease  to  be  individuals;  they 
become,  first  towns,  villages,  fields,  and  then 
those  tendencies  and  processes  of  society, 
in  whose  tentacles  the  individual  is  held. 
The  drained  countryside,  the  vampire  cities, 
the  energy  and  ugliness  of  industrialism, 
the  speeding-up  of  humanity's  pace,  all  the 
ferment  and  baffled  idealism  of  our  time, 
sound  in  this  poetry.  There  is  yet  a  further 
stage,  typified  by  Les  forces  tumultueuses 
(1901),  of  revolutionary  vehemence  and  semi- 
prophetic  declamation.  Verhaeren  has  also 
written  plays;  but  his  genius  is  essentially 
lyrical  and  rhetorical.  He  remains  a  Fleming 
through  his  French  medium;  he  has  the 
instinct  of  his  race  for  mysticism  and  sym- 
bolism, as  well  as  for  sensuous  colour  and 
riotous  force.  His  verse  is  like  a  rich  shell, 
through  which  winds  blow;  but  they  are 
not  the  usual  poetic  winds  breathing  from 
the  spice-laden  islands  of  the  past,  but  the 
surging  blinding  tempests  of  the  present  and 
the  future.  No  poet  of  our  age  has  kept  closer 
together  the  spheres  of  actuality  and  vision. 

Verhaeren's  work  is  untranslatable;  and 
while  it  has  been  much  appreciated  in  France, 
and  still  more  perhaps  in  Germany,  the 
English-speaking  public,  very  few  of  whom 
can  understand  poetry  in  the  French  language, 
have    left    him    practically    unread.     Very 


ART  AND   LITERATURE         241 

different  is  the  case  of  Maeterlinck,  whose 
prose,  whether  in  his  plays  or  his  essays, 
is  singularly  easy  both  to  read  and  to  trans- 
late. Though  he  is  an  heir  of  the  Flemish 
mystics  and  his  work  is  heavily  charged 
with  symbols,  the  peculiarity  of  his  method 
is  to  express  these  not  by  strange  words  or 
phrases,  but  by  strange  successions  of  the 
simplest  phrases.  His  fiTst  volume,  Serres 
Chaudes  (1889),  which  Tolstoy's  What  is 
Art?  assailed  as  the  last  word  in  decadence, 
shows  the  influence  of  Verlaine  (himself  of 
Belgian  descent) ;  but  the  series  of  symbolistic 
plays,  culminating  in  PelUas  et  Milisande 
(1892)  and  Aglavaine  et  SilyseUe  (1896), 
developed  an  entirely  original  method.  Since 
then  Maeterlinck's  genius  has  evolved  along 
two  main  paths;  one,  that  of  a  broader 
and  less  shadow-haunted  drama  {Monna 
Vanna,  Joyzelle,  and  The  Blue  Bird),  the 
other,  that  of  the  semi-philosophical  prose- 
essays,  of  which  Le  Trisor  des  Humbles 
(1896)  was  the  first.  His  work  is  so  well 
known  both  in  England  and  in  America 
that  wc  need  not  here  describe  it  more  fully : 
but  it  is  worth  pointing  out  its  complete  in- 
dependence of  French  traditions.  He  derives 
something  from  the  Greeks;  much  from 
the  Flemish  mystic,  Ruysbroeck;  something 
from    the    Elizabethan    dramatists;     some- 


242  BELGIUM 

thing  from  Novalis;  but  nothing  whatever 
from  Corneille  or  Racine,  nor  yet  from 
Victor  Hugo  or  the  Parnassians.  Working 
in  the  French  language,  he  has  wrought  out 
something  entirely  un-French,  which  could 
only  have  been  produced  by  a  Belgian. 

This  last  formula  is  necessarily  that  of 
the  whole  school.  The  Belgian  nation  is 
a  different  one,  in  some  ways  very  different, 
from  the  French.  If  it  uses  the  same 
language — and  there  are  some  obvious 
advantages  in  doing  so — it  must  use  it 
differently.  The  genius  of  France,  as  shown 
in  her  literature  ever  since  Louis  XIV,  is 
distinguished  above  all  by  its  lucidity, 
elegance,  lightness,  precision,  and  wit.  The 
Flemish  genius,  as  it  showed  itself  to  the 
world  in  the  Primitive  painters,  and  later 
in  the  age  of  Rubens,  is  heavier  and  coarser, 
but  in  some  ways  richer,  more  powerful, 
more  coloured.  By  a  strange  paradox  it 
has  always  combined  a  strong  animalism 
with  a  mystic  spirituality.  An  author  in 
modern  Belgium  is  indeed  in  something  of 
a  dilemma.  If  he  writes  in  French,  he  uses 
an  instrument  which  was  fashioned  for 
other  purposes  than  his,  and  cannot  be  made 
to  do  his  work  (if  at  all)  without  a  certain 
violence.  On  the  other  hand  if  he  writes 
in  Flemish,  which  takes  more  naturally  the 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         248 

colour  of  his  temperament,  he  can  only  be 
understood  by  a  small  circle  of  readers; 
and  for  such  purposes  as  science  or  philo- 
sophy he  would  have  either  to  borrow  Dutch 
or  largely  to  create  his  language  as  he  went 
along.  At  present,  to  write  an  original 
treatise  on  political  economy  or  electricity 
in  Flemish  would  be  almost  like  writing  one 
in  the  Dorset  dialect.  The  French-speaking 
Belgians,  with  their  distinguished  publicists — 
Emile  de  Laveleye,  Ernest  Nys,  and  the 
rest — and  their  virtual  monopoly  of  serious 
political  oratory  in  the  Chamber  and  the 
Senate,  have  here  a  great  advantage  over 
their  Flemish-speaking  fellow-countrymen. 
Yet  in  the  realm  of  pure  literature  it  is 
possible  that  the  latter,  though  their  fit 
audience  be  indeed  few,  have  in  some  instances 
gone  higher, 

Flanders  after  1830  underwent  for  many 
years  an  economic  depression,  due  first  to 
the  closing  of  the  Schelde  and  then  to 
the  potato  disease.  But  in  this  period  it 
produced  two  writers  such  as  it  had  not 
known  for  centuries.  Hendrik  Conscience,  of 
Ghent,  published  his  first  great  novel  /n'< 
Wonderjaar  1566  in  1837,  and  The  Lion  of 
Flanders  (describing  the  battle  of  the  Golden 
Spurs)  soon  afterwards.  These  historical 
romances,  based  in  form  on  Sir  Walter  Scott, 


244  BELGIUM 

are  works  of  undeniable  power  and  passion  : 
and  from  them  dates  the  Flemish  awakening. 
Their  effect  was  continued  and  heightened 
by  the  publication  in  1843  of  Die  Brie  Zuster- 
steden,  by  Ledeganck,  also  of  Ghent.  His 
poems  on  the  "  three  sister  towns  "  of  Ghent, 
Bruges  and  Antwerp,  had  not  only  very 
great  poetical  merit,  but  they  made  a  power- 
ful appeal  to  Flemish  patriotism,  and  against 
the  adoption  of  French  ideas,  manners,  and 
language.  Ledeganck  died  in  1846;  but 
Conscience  went  on  writing,  and  produced 
novels  of  contemporary  Flemish  life  (the 
best.  The  Conscript,  dates  from  1850)  scarcely 
inferior  to  his  historical  romances.  The 
sudden  appearance  of  a  great  prose-writer 
and  a  great  poet  side  by  side  in  a  small 
and  backward  country,  as  Flanders  then 
was,  is  a  phenomenon  not  easy  to  explain. 
There  was  nothing  like  it  at  the  time  in  the 
literature  of  Holland,  still  less  in  the  French 
literature  of  Belgium.  Neither  Conscience 
nor  Ledeganck  had  the  delicacy  of  style 
achieved  by  some  of  their  successors;  but 
the  breadth  and  strength  of  their  writing 
would  have  won  a  European  reputation, 
could  Europe  have  read  it. 

A  considerable  school  arose  with  and 
after  them — J.  T.  Van  Ryswyck,  a  writer 
of  political  and  satirical  songs;  Van  Duyse, 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         245 

copious  author  of  odes,  plays  and  books, 
who  occasionally  reached  high  quality; 
Damien  Sleeckx  (1818-1901)  of  Antwerp, 
realistic  novelist.  But  the  greatest  of  all 
Flemish  poets — possibly,  though  no  foreigner 
can  make  a  comparison  with  confidence, 
of  all  Belgian  writers — appeared  rather  later, 
in  West  Flanders.  Guido  Gezelle  was  a 
priest  and  teacher  at  a  Church  secondary 
school  in  the  out-of-the-way  town  of  Roulers. 
He  took  the  picturesque  and  virginal 
West-Flemish  speech,  which  he  spoke  and 
heard,  and  made  of  it  a  new  poetic  style, 
perfect  in  its  blend  of  spontaneity  and  art. 
He  was  a  poet  of  the  inner  life,  immortalising 
little  things  and  casting  round  daily  incidents 
an  atmosphere  of  emotion  and  beauty. 
Some  of  'his  lyrics  have  been  compared  to 
Verlaine;  but  he  has  not  Verlaine's  diseased 
nerves;  he  is  more  wholesome  and  more 
human.  In  1860,  after  his  first  poems  were 
published,  but  before  they  were  widely 
known,  he  fell  into  ecclesiastical  disgrace, 
and  was  dismissed  from  his  post  at  Roulers. 
The  facts  are  obscure,  but  his  spirit  was  so 
deeply  stricken  and  humiliated  that  for 
thirty  years  he  practically  wrote  nothing. 
Meanwhile,  towards  the  'eighties,  his  poetry 
found  disciples,  the  ablest  of  whom  was 
Albrecht  Rodenbach  (1857-81),  tragically  cut 


246  BELGIUM 

off  by  consumption  from  a  career  of  great 
promise.  After  the  earlier  'eighties  the  leader 
of  the  Flemish  literary  movement  was  a  third 
eminent  poet,  Pol  de  Mont,  of  Antwerp. 
Utilising  the  technique  of  his  predecessors,  he 
brought  in  from  foreign,  chiefly  French,  sources 
quite  a  new  current  of  modernity,  "  art  for 
Art's  sake,"  and  sensuous  beauty.  But  in  the 
middle  of  Pol  de  Mont's  reign  the  aged  Gezelle 
issued  from  his  long  silence;  and  in  1892  and 
1895  published  a  series  of  poems  of  old  age,  of 
an  almost  rarer  beauty  than  those  by  which  he 
had  hitherto  been  known.  At  the  same  time 
his  nephew,  Styn  Streuvels,  a  humble  baker  of 
Avelghem,  suddenly  appeared  as  a  novelist, 
with  a  prose  style  only  less  of  a  revelation  than 
his  uncle's  poetry.  Streuvel's  books  have  a 
simple  realism,  recalling  the  technique  of  the 
Russian  novel ;  but  with  no  Russian  subtlety  of 
analysis.  Their  great  merit  is  their  style ;  and 
like  Gezelle's  poetry  they  are  untranslatable. 

This  brief  sketch  of  a  little-known  movement 
may  serve  to  explain  some  of  the  spiritual 
force  which  there  is  behind  Jlamingantisme. 
The  Flemish  authors  are  much  read  and 
admired  in  Holland;  but  the  Dutch  and 
the  Flemish,  as  we  have  repeatedly  observed, 
are  by  no  means  one  nation.  The  idiosyn- 
crasy of  Gezelle  and  Streuvels  is  no  more 
that    of    Amsterdam    than    their   idiom   is; 


ART  AND  LITERATURE         247 

they  can  appreciate  each  other  as  foreigners 
only.  Hence  the  desire  of  Catholic  Flanders, 
that  its  language  should  not  remain  trampled 
underfoot  as  a  mere  patois ;  a  laudable 
desire,  and  yet  one  to  which  natural,  not  legal, 
inequalities  present  to-day  the  chief  obstacle. 
Besides  painting,  sculpture,  and  imagi- 
native literature,  there  is  much  attention 
given  in  modern  Belgium  to  the  arts  of  music 
and  architecture.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
music  is  the  special  art  of  the  Walloons,  as 
painting  is  of  the  Flemings.  Certainly  in  the 
Walloon  country,  as  in  Wales,  there  is  a  great 
amount  of  popular  music — choral  societies, 
orchestral  societies,  etc. — among  the  workmen. 
The  great  composers,  like  Cesar  Franck,  and 
the  great  executants,  like  M.  Ysaye,  are  usually 
Walloons  by  extraction.  But  the  love  of  music 
extends  all  over  the  country.  One  of  the  first 
things  to  which  local  politicians  attend, 
whether  Catholic,  Liberal,  or  Socialist,  is  the 
organisation  of  a  band.  Musical  education  is 
well  provided  for.  The  State  keeps  up  four 
Royal  Conservatoires  of  music — at  Brussels, 
Antwerp,  Li^ge,  and  Ghent — at  which  the 
highest  grades  of  teaching  are  made  avail- 
able for  over  5000  pupils.  It  also  supports 
a  number  of  schools  of  music  in  all  the 
provinces,  with  pupils  numbering  another 
15,000.    It  subsidises  opera  both  in  Brussels 


248  BELGIUM 

and  Antwerp;  and  the  large  opera-house 
in  the  capital,  with  its  excellent  and  cheap 
performances  of  the  best  works  (which  with 
rare  exceptions  are  always  given  in  French, 
the  language  of  the  city),  has  made  music- 
drama  a  popular  art  in  Belgium,  while  in 
England  and  the  United  States  it  remains  for 
the  most  part  a  fashionable  exotic.  Young 
composers  are  plentiful  in  Belgium ;  but  since 
C6sar  Franck  the  country  has  thrown  up  no 
outstanding  creative  musical  genius. 

Architecture  in  Belgium  shows  through  the 
centuries  a  certain  continuity  of  aim.  With 
only  a  few  exceptions,  the  great  mediaeval  build- 
ings in  its  cities  are  relatively  late ;  and  though 
they  are  very  beautiful,  it  is  the  beauty  of  florid 
ornament  and  architectural  rhetoric  rather 
than  that  of  structural  ideas.  The  builders  of 
the  last  half-century,  working  mostly  in  Re- 
naissance styles,  fall  still  more  easily  into  this 
habit.  The  exceptionally  fine  building-stones, 
which  are  quarried  in  the  Namur  province 
and  elsewhere,  lend  themselves  to  the  rhetoric 
of  the  orders.  Among  all  the  great  public 
buildings  in  modern  Belgium  there  is  only 
one  that  reveals  quahties  much  beyond 
these;  and  it  is  fortunate,  that  it  happens 
to  be  the  largest,  the  costliest,  and  the  most 
conspicuous.  This  is  the  Palais  de  Justice 
at  Brussels,  designed  by  Poelaert  and  com- 


ART   AND  LITERATURE         249 

pleted  in  1883.  It  is  placed  on  a  magnificent 
site,  of  which  its  elevations  are  designed  to 
take  the  greatest  advantage;  and  anyone 
familiar  with  modern  Brussels  need  only 
try  to  see  it  in  his  mind's  eye  with  these 
elevations  left  out,  in  order  to  realise  the 
effect  which  they  have  on  the  appearance 
of  the  whole  city.  But  the  Palace  is  praise- 
worthy not  only  for  this  and  for  Poelaert's 
impressive  adaptation  of  Egyptian  motives, 
but  for  a  masterly  plan  and  highly  original 
solutions  of  the  problem  of  internal  lighting. 
With  this  exception,  the  modem  public 
buildings  of  Belgium,  though  numerous  and 
imposing,  are  somewhat  lacking  in  originality. 
French,  American,  and  latterly  German  ideas 
have  been  freely  drawn  upon,  and  the  mixed 
Renaissance  and  steel-girder  styles  of  the 
later  nineteenth  and  the  twentieth  centuries 
are  well  represented.  While  the  merit  of 
this  architecture  is  purely  selective,  it  is 
nevertheless  considerable.  The  fine  modem 
parts  of  the  Belgian  cities  are  as  fine  as  any 
in  Europe ;  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire 
the  vigour  with  which  their  authorities 
have  cleared  congested  sites  and  created 
thoroughfares  and  boulevards.  There  has 
been  no  meticulous  town-planning  to  compare 
with  that  in  Germany;  but  the  Burgo- 
masters possess,  ex-offido,  great  powers  over 


250  5fiLGIUM 

structures;  and  the  outward  development 
of  the  larger  cities  has  been  better  controlled 
and  designed  than  in  England  or  France.  The 
people  have  something  like  a  national  gift  for 
laying  out  ground  and  buildings  effe<Jtively ; 
and  their  passion  for  handsome  edifices  has  in 
the  last  forty  years  become  almost  unbridled. 
There  have  been  two  special  incentives  to  it. 
One  is  the  low  cost  of  building  in  Belgium, 
which  is  little  more  than  half  that  in  Britain. 
The  other  was  the  personal  influence  of  Leopold 
II,  who  had  a  taste  for  architecture  and  the 
laying-out  of  ground,  which  he  evinced  for  no 
other  art.  Not  only  did  he  always  encourage 
public  bodies  in  such  enterprises,  but  towards 
the  end  of  his  life  he  spent  enormous  sums 
from  his  own  Congo  profits  on  carrying  out 
immense  schemes  of  this  kind  at  Brussels, 
Tervueren,   Ostend,  and  elsewhere. 

How  much  will  escape  the  devastation 
of  the  European  War,  it  is  impossible  to 
the  time  of  writing  to  prophesy.  But  in 
any  case  the  first  sequel  of  peace  in  Belgium 
must  be  rebuilding.  It  will  be  fortunate  then, 
that  in  consequence  of  the  building  fever  of 
recent  years  the  country  is  equipped  beyond 
the  ordinary  needs  of  its  size  with  architects, 
builders,  trained  workmen,  and  experience, 
which  may  enable  its  ruined  towns  to  rise 
purified  and  beautified  from  their  ashes. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.  In  Ekolish 

LAifD  AW  Labottb  :  Lessons  from  Belgium.  By 
B.  Seebohm  Rowntree.  London  :  1910. 
By  far  the  best  English  book  on  Belgium.  The  author  has 
made  an  exhaustive  study  of  many  of  the  social  problems  of 
modem  Belgium;  for  which  he  not  only  consulted  every 
existing  source  of  information,  but  conducted  an  original 
investigation  on  a  large  scale  and  by  the  latest  scientific 
methods. 

A    History    ov    Beloixtm.     By    Demetrius    C.    Boulger. 
London  :  Part  I,  1902 ;  Part  II,  1909. 
A  useful  account  of  Belgian  history  from  Julius  Caesar  to 
the  death  of  Leopold  I.     It  seems  to  be   based  mainly  on 
M.  Th6odore  Juste's  work,  for  which  see  below. 

Belqiuh   of  the   Belgians.    By   Demetrius   C.   Boulger. 
London  :   1911. 
A  popular  description  of  the  country  by  the  same  authos. 

Belgittu  :     Her    Kings,    Kingdom,    and    People.     By 
J.  de  C.  MacDonnell.     London  :    1914. 
Contains  clever  character-sketches  of  Leopold  I,  Leopold 
II,  and  Eong  Albert;    with  an  account  of  Belgian  politics 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Catholic  party. 

Belgium  the  Land  of  Art.    By  W.  E.  Griffis.    New  York : 
1912. 
A  popular  book  for  sight-seers ;  but  gives  some  account  of 
the  modern  progress  of  the  country. 

Consular  Reports. 

The    Reports    of   the    British    Consul-General,    Sir    Cecil 
Hertslet,    are   always    exceedingly    well    done.     The    latest 
Report  on  Belgium  as  a  whole  was  published  in  1913;   the 
latest  on  the  Port  of  Antwerp  in  1914. 
Reference  Books. 

The  Statesman's  Year  Book  and  Bcedeker's  Chiide  to  Belgium 
and  Holland  will  give  the  Elnglish  reader  much  statistical 
and  topographical  information  which  he  could  not  obtain 
elsewhere. 

II.  In  French 

HiSTOiRE  DE  Belgiqub.     By  Prof.  H.  Pirenne  (of  Ghmt 
University).     Brussels:    Vol.    I,  1900;    Vol.    II,    1903; 
Vol.  Ill,  1907;  Vol.  IV,  1911. 
A  work  embodying  the  latest  modern  scholarship.     The 
laat  volume  oames  it  down  to  the  year  1648. 
251 


252  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Le3  Anciennes  D^mocbatibs  des  Pays-Bas.    By  the  same 
author.     Paris :   1910. 
A  brilliant  sketch  of  the  period  of  the  communes. 

HiSTOiHE  DB  Bblgiqub.  By  Thdodore  Juste.  Beet  edition, 
3  vols.  Brussels  :  1895. 
The  best-known  Belgian  history  of  Belgium.  M.  Juste,  a 
prolific  writer,  also  published  monogrt^phs  on  the  leaders  of 
the  Revolution  of  1830  which  throw  many  sidelights  on 
that  event. 

HiSTOiRB  DB  Flandeb.    By  Baron  J.  M.  B.  C.  Kervyn  de 
Lettenhove.     Third  edition,  4  vols.     Brussels  :   1874. 

Jacques  d'Arteveldb.  By  the  same.  Second  edition. 
Ghent:  1863. 
Baron  J.  M.  B.  C.  Kervyn  de  Lettenhove  was  the  most 
brilliant  Belgian  historical  writer  during  the  nineteenth 
century.  Besides  embodying  much  research,  hia  work  has 
literary  merit.  It  is  sometimes  over-coloured  by  Catholic 
sympathies. 

La  Bblgiqub  Modebnb.     By  H.  CJharriaut.     Paris  :   1910. 

A  French  study  of  Belgian  society  and  politics;  it  covers 
readably  a  good  deal  of  ground,  but  its  judgments  are 
superficial. 

ficHOs  DBS  LuTTES  CoNTEMPORAiNES.    By  Charles  Woeste. 
2  vols.     Brussels  :  1906. 
By  the  leader  of  uncompromising  Conservatism  in  Belgium ; 
gives  interesting  presentment  of  the  Conservative-Catholio 
position. 

HiSTOIRB  DB  LA  DilMOCRATIB  BT  DU  SoCIALISME  EN  BeLOIQUB. 

By  Louis  Bertrand.     Brussels,  2  vols  :    1906,  1907. 

HiSTOIRB  DE  LA  COOPERATION  EN  Belgique.     By  the  samo 
author.     Brussels,  2  vols.  :    1901,  1904. 
Two  books  by  one  of  the  best-known  Socialist  leaders. 
The  first  is  a  history  of  Belgian  Socialism ;   the  second,  that 
of  its  Co-operative  Stores. 

L'bxodb  Rural  et  le  Retour  aux  Champs.  By  Emile 
Vandervelde.  Brussels  :  1903. 
A  brilliant  stuily,  by  the  ablest  of  the  Belgian  Socialists, 
of  the  interactions  between  town  and  country  in  Belgium; 
it  examines  particularly  the  social  consequences  of  the 
system  of  cheap  workmen's  tickets. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  258 

La  Bbloiqub   OuvbiJieb,     By  the  same  author.     Paris: 
1906. 

A  compact  description  of  working-class  Belgium,  'written 
for  the  French  public. 

MoDEENiTES.     By  Pol  de  Mont.     Brussels  :    1911. 

An  anthology  of  Belgian  poetry  written  in  the  French 
language  since  1880;  compiled  by  the  famous  Flemish  poet 
and  art-critic. 

Official  Reports. 

There  is  a  Central  Statistical  CJommission,  which  issues 
official  statistics.  Reports  of  departmental  work  are  also 
published  by  the  Departments  of  the  Interior,  Agriculture, 
Waters  and  Forests,  Railways,  Posts  and  Telegraphs,  Instruc- 
tion, Industry  and  Labour.  The  Annitaire  du  Commerce  tt 
de  rindtistrie  de  Belgiqiie,  published  annuaUy  by  A.  Mertens, 
Brussels,  is  quasi-official. 

Pkbiodicals. 

Ably  conducted  reviews  in  Belgium  tend  to  be  of  common 
occurrence,  but  short-lived.  Some  of  the  best  intellectual 
work  is  to  be  found  in  back  numbers  of  dead  magazines. 
One  might  mention  on  the  side  of  art  and  literature  L'Art 
Moderne  (1881-1887)  and  La  Jeune  Belgique  (1881-1897);  and 
on  the  side  of  sociology  the  Annales  de  VInatitvi  des  Sciences 
Sociales  (1894-1900). 

INDEX 

Agriculture,  23, 110,  210-14  Baldwin    IX,   Emperor   of  the 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  peace  of,  106  East,  70 

Albert,  Archduke,  99,  101  Beernaert,    Auguste,    181,    216, 
Albert,  King,  18,  19,  77  217,  218,  220 

"  Alpine  "  type,  40-2  Belgians,  origin  of  name,  66 

Alva,  Duke  of,  52,  100, 163  Bilingnals,  50 

_ Antwerp,  35,  36,  92,  99, 100, 129,  Birth-rate,  56 

137,  231  Bismarck,  Prince,  140 

Architecture,  248-50  Black  Death,  84 

Ardennes,  32,  201  Bouillon,  Godfrey  of,  70 

Arenberg,  Due  d',  113,  cp.  178  Bouviues,  battle  of,  75 

Arlon,  26,  32,  137  "  Brabanconne,"  54, 127 

Amould,  Victor,  236  Brabant,  24,  32,  69,  74,  89-90, 
Arras,  95, 106  122,  142 

"  Art  Libre,"  228-9  Brabant  Revolution,  67,  112-13 

Artan,  228  Braeckeleer,  Henri  de,  227 

Artois,  94,  95, 106  Breughel,  the  elder,  226 

Breydel,  Jan,  76 

Baldwin  Iron-Arm,  71  Broqueville,  Baron  de,  185,  219 

Baldwin  II,  71  Bruges,  29,  31,  76,  79,  82,  86,  87, 
Baldwin  V,  72  01,  93 


254) 


INDEX 


Brussels,  29,  32,  68,  90,  94,  96, 
103, 123,  126-8,  183,  188 

BUlow,  General,  116 

Burgomaster,  88,  149,  158-61, 
191,  220 

Burgundy,  House  of,  66,  90-2 

"  Cadastral  Revenue,"  146 
Cadzand,  treaty  of,  93 
Campine,  the,  24,  27,  32,  66,  201. 
238  '      '      '        w 

Cassel  Hill,  battle  of,  49,  73 
Catholic  party,  47. 166, 169, 170  ff. 
Chamber      of     Representatives, 

143  ff.;  parties  in,  194 
Charlemagne,  12,  68 
Charleroi,  30,  31.  106,  186, 187 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  111 
Charles  the  Bold,  92 
Charles  V,  93-6 
Charlotte,  Princess,  133 
Cha886,  General,  137 
Chaucer,  72 

Chokier,  Surlet  de,  131, 138 
Christian  Democrat  party,  164,194 
Claus,  fimile,  229,  230 
Clisson,  Oliver  de,  87 
Cloth  trade,  72,  78 
Communes     (modem),     167-62, 

174-7.  180,  198,  214 
Cond6,  Prince  of,  107 
Congo, 18-21,  145 
Conine,  Pieter  de,  76 
Conscience,  Hendrik,  243 
Constitution,  how  changed,  144 
Co-operation,  agricultural,  212-14 
Co-operation,  consumers',  206-10 
Coster,  Charles  de,  235-6 
Cour  des  Comptes,  161,  162 
Courtrai,  72,  76 
Crecy,  battle  of,  84 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  110 

Damme,  treaty  of,  93 
David,  the  painter,  223 
DelviUe,  Jean,  230 
Demolder,  Eugene,  238 
Dillens,  Julien,  232 
Dissolution  of  Parliament,  156-6 
Doctrinairex,  153,  167,  186 
Don  John  of  Austria,  100 
Dumouriez,  General,  114 
Dunes,  battle  of  the,  107 
Dutch,  35,   52-5,   63,   101,   107, 

117-21,  124-32,  134-77,  246 
"  Dutch  Flanders,"  130,  135 
Bchevin,  80,  88,  149,  158-60 
Echevinal  College,  158,  159 
Edict  of  Tolerance,  112 
Education  Controversy,  174-85 
Edward  III,  of  England,  79-86 


Eekhoud,  Georges,  238 
Eugene,  of  Savoy,  108, 108 

Factory  legislation,  217 
Flamingantisme,  48-50,  246 
Flanders,  24,  27,  31,  49,  62.  68. 

71-89,  94,  96,  122,   182,  183. 

202,243 
Flemish    (speaking),    27,    46-61. 

124,  242-3 
Flemish  literature,  243-6 
Fleurus,  battle  of,  115 
Fontenoy,  battle  of,  110 
Franchise,  145-8, 186-92 
Franck,  C^sar,  247 
Fr6d6ric,  L6on,  230 
Frederick,  Prince,  of  Holland,  126 
French  language  in  Belgium,  27. 

48-51,  242-3 
Frdre-Orban,  W,,  176, 179 
Froissart,  79,  2Zi 

Oallait,  L.,  226 

Gavre,  battle  of,  91 

Gendebien,  A.,  128, 131 

(Jeology  of  Belgium,  26-7 

(Jerman  language  in  Belgium,  26 

(Jezelle,  Guido,  245 

Ghent,  31,  39,  72,  78-88,  96.  96. 

188,  215, 230  •      »      » 

"  Ghent  system,"  216 
Gilkin,  Iwan,  269 
GUle,  Val6re,  239 
Giraud,  239 

Golden  Fleece,  Order  of  the,  81, 84 
Golden  Spurs,  battle  of  the.  77. 

87,  89 
Grammont,  73,  82 
Grammont,  League  of,  76 
"  Great  Privilege,"  92 
Groux,  Charles  de,  228 
Guilds,  78,  83 

Habits,  traditional,  56-62 
Habsburg,  House  of,  67,  91,  111 
Hainaut,  32,  69,  73,  74 
Heinsius,  99 
Hennequin,  trial  of,  124 
HoUand,  22,  34-7,   52,   66,  91, 

111,  117,  118,  124-38 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  65,  68,  74 
Home  industries,  62,  203 
Honnecourt,  battle  of,  107 
Hooghvoorst,  Baron  d',  128 
Hoogstraeten,  battle  of,  116 
Housing,  220-21 
HoweU,  early  traveller,  108 

"  Iberian  "  type,  41,  43 
Independent  party,  163 
Insurance,  social,  219 
Isabella,  Prlnoees,  99, 101 


INDEX 


255 


Jemiuappes,  battle  of,  114 

Jenueval,  127 

Jordaens.  09, 102,  223 

Joseph  II,  111 

Joyous   Entry  of  Brabant,  80, 

113, 142 
Kent,  Duke  of,  133 
Keyzer,  De,  226 
Kuopff,  F.,  230 
Lainbeaux,  Jef,  232 
Land,  Bubdjvisiou  of,  201 
Laveleye,  Eniile  de,  243 
Lawfeld,  battle  of,  110 
"  Le  Progrte  "  of  Joliraont,  207 
Ledesanck,  244 
Legislative  power,  the,  143 
Leipzig,  battle  of,  116 
LeUaerts,  the,  76  85 
Lemonnier,  Caniille,  237 
Lens,  battle  of,  107 
Lens,  the  painter,  223 
Leo  XIII,  Poi)e,  178,  217 
Leopold  1. 18,  20,  39, 133  fif.,  196 
Leopold  II,  18,  19,  20, 168,  260 
LeoiK)ld,  Emperor,  114 
Leys,  Henri,  226 

Liberal  party,  166  fl.,  208, 215,217 
Li6ge,  29,  30-3,  37,  51,  65.  69,  96, 

114,  115,  117,  127,  186,  187 
Lille,  106,  108 
Limburg,  32, 130, 135,  202 
Lipsius,  99 

London,  Conference  of,  130  ff.,  137 
Lotharingia,  69 
I^uia  XIV,  106,  107 
Louis-Philippe,  132, 134 
Louvain,  74   90,  92,  136 
Louvain  University,  92,  174 
Luxemlx)urg,  Marshal,  107 
Luxemburg,  32, 69, 117,  ISO,  131, 

134 
Lys,  33,  72 

Maestricht,  130, 135 
Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  241 
"Maison  du  Peuple,"  206,  207, 

210 
H&le,  Louis  de,  85-7 
Malines,  29,  94,  196 
Malon,  Jules,  179 
HalplaQuet,  baUle  of,  108 
Manners,  popular,  62-4 
Margaret  of  Austria,  93 
Maria  Theresa,  Empress,  111 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  108 
*'  Mattins  of  Bruges,"  76 
Maximilian,  of  Austria,  93 
Mercator,  99 
M^rode,   Count   Fttix   de,   128, 

cp.  178 


Meunier,    Constantin,    47,    229, 

232-4 
Meuse,  25,  33,  37,  42 
Ministers,  position  of,  144 
Ministries,  list  of,  145 
Monet,  Claude,  229 
Mons,  29,  30,  32,  95, 108, 186, 187 
Mont,  Pol  de,  246 
Music,  247-8 

Namur,  32,  69,  108,  248 
Napoleon  1,109, 115-17, 133,  l59 
Napoleon  III,  139,  140 
National  Congress,  129 
Navez,  F.  J.,  223 
Neerwinden,  battles  of,  107, 114 
Nemours,  Due  de,  131, 132 
Neutrality,  Belgian,  16, 17, 13ft-41 
Nevele,  battle  of,  86 
Nevers,  Louis  de,  79,  81,  85 
Nimeguen,  peace  of,  106 
Nothomb,  174 
Nys,  Ernest,  243 

Orange,  Prince  of  (William  I),  117 
Orange,  Prince  of  (William  I's 

son),  126,  131 
Ostend,  23,  101,  250 
Oudenarde,  82,  85, 108 

Palate  de  Justice.  248-9 
Palmerston,  Lord,  131 
Parma,  Prince  of,  35, 100 
Pausauias,  222 
"  Pea.sant8  War,"  116 
Pennsylvania,  state  of,  compared, 

22 
Pepin,  68 

"  Permanent  Deputation,"  156 
Philip  Augustus,  74,  75 
Philip  of  Valois,  79 
Philip  the  Fair,  75,  76 
Phihp  the  Good,  67,  91-2 
PhiUp  II  (of  Spain),  52,  68 
Picard,  Edmond,  237 
Pirmez,  Octave,  236 
Plain,  the  great,  24, 27-9, 211,2W 
Plan  tin,  99 
Plural    voting    system,    146-8, 

188-91 
Poelaert,249 
Polders,  23,  41 
Poor-law,  195,  214 
Population,  22,  55-6, 100, 124 
Potter,  De,  124,  128 
Pri6,  Marquis  de,  109 
"  Primitive  "  painters,  28, 47, 242 
Privy  Council,  94 
ProgressisUa,  153,  186 
Proportional        Bepreaentatioo, 

140-54, 180 


256 


INDEX 


Provinces,  the  nine,  31-3 
Provincial  councils,  156,  198 
Provisional    Government   (of 

1830),  128 
Pyrenees,  treaty  of  the,  106 

Quatre  Bras,  battle  of,  118 

Raiffeisen  banlcs,  213 
Railways,  39,  44,  196-201 
Ramillies,  battle  of,  107 
Rents,  rack,  202 
RichUde,  73 
Robert  of  Flanders,  73 
Rocroi,  battle  of,  107 
Rodenbach,  Albrecht,  245 
Rodenbach,  Georges,  238 
Rogier,  Charles.  127. 128, 176 
Roosebeke,  battle  of,  87 
Rops,  228 
Roulers,  245 
Rousseau,  Victor,  234 
Rowntree,  B.  Seebohm,  171,  182, 

201 
Rubens,  99,  101-2,  223,  225,  242 
Ruysbroeck,  241 
Ryswlck,  peace  of,  106,  111 

Saint- Aldegonde,  Marnix  de,  222 

Sand-dunes,  23,  31,  41 

Saxe.  Marshal,  110 

Schelde,  33,  34-6,  38,  42,  69, 130 

SchoUaert,  M.,  184 

"  Schools  for  Mothers,"  215 

Sculpture,  232-4 

Sedan,  battle  of,  140 

Senate,  143, 148-51 

Seneffe,  battle  of,  107 

S6verin,  Fernand,  239 

Sleeckx,  Damien,  245 

Slingeneyer,  E.,  225 

Sluys,  battle  of,  82 

Smits,  Eug6ne,  228 

Socialist  party,   148,   170,    184, 

187-94, 204-9 
"  Spanish  Fiurv,"  100 
Stales-General,  93 
Bteenkerke,  battle  of,  107 
Stevens,  Alfred,  227 
Streuvels,  Styn,  246 
Strikes,  political,  186-91, 193 

Talleyrand,  132 

Tariff,  protective,  211,  216 

Teniers,  David,  99,  227 

Tervueren,  251 

"  Teutonic  "  type,  40,  41 

Tournai,  73, 108 

Tbwns.  amenities  of,  60-1,  249 


Trade  unionism,  203-6 
Tricolor  of  Brabant,  123 
Turenne,  107 

Universities,  174 

Utrecht,  treaty  of,  66,  109,  111 

Uylenspiegel,  235 

Van  Artevelde,  J.,  78-84 

Van  Artevelde,  P.,  86-7 

Van  der  Noot,  113 

Van  der  Weyden,  Roger,  226 

Vanderstappen,  C.,  232 

Vanderstraeten,  trials  of,  124 

Van  de  Weyer,  128, 130 

Van  Duyse,  244 

Van  Dyck,  99,  223 

Van  Eyck,  92 

Van  Miele,  Dr.,  215 

Van  Orley,B.,226 

Van  Rysselberghe,  230 

Vauban, 104 

Venice,  70,  78 

Venlo,  37,  130  135 

Verhaeren,  fimile,  239-40 

Verlaine,  241 

Verstraefcen,  230 

Verviers,  31 

Verw6e  228 

Victoria,  Queen,  128, 133, 188 

Vienna,  Congress  of,  54,  66, 117 

Vigne,  Paul  de,  232 

"  Vooruit,"  206,  207,  210 

Wages,  61-2,  203 

WaUoon,  11, 12.  27,  40,  44-7,  50, 

51,124,127,234 
Wappers,  225 
Waterloo,  battle  of,  118 
Watersheds,  34 
Waterways,  inland,  33, 199 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  54, 117, 118 
Wenceslas,  90, 113 
Wiertz,  Antoine,  226 
William  I  (of  HoUand),  117-37 
William  III  (of  England),  107, 108 
William  the  Silent,  54 
Woeriiigen,  battle  of,  89 
Woeste,  Charles,  141, 180, 181,218 
Women's  field-work,  59 
Women's  suffrage,  167 

"  Young  Right,"  the,  218 
Ypres,  29,  72,  73,  77,  78,  234 
Ysaye,  M.,247 
Yser,  the,  33 

Zannekln,  Nicholas,  79 
Zeeland,  35, 130 


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91.  THE  NEGRO.  By  W.  E.  Burghardt  DuBois,  author  of  "Souls  of 
Black  Folks,"  etc.  A  history  of  the  black  man  in  Africa,  America  or 
wherever  else  his  presence  has  been  or  is  important. 

77.  CO-PARTNERSHIP  AND  PROFIT  SHARING.  By  Aneurin  WU- 
liams,  Chairman,  Executive  Committee,  International  Co-opera- 
tive Alliance,  etc.  Explains  the  various  types  of  co-partnership  and 
profit-sharing,  and  gives  details  of  the  arrangements  now  in  force  in 
many  of  the  great  industries. 

99.  POLITICAL  THOUGHT:  THE  UTILITARIANS.  FROM  BENT- 
HAM  TO  J.  S.  MILL.    By  William  L.  P.  Davidson. 

98.  POLITICAL  THOUGHT:  FROM  HERBERT  SPENCER  TO  THE 
PRESENT  DAY.     By  Ernest  Barker,  M.  A. 

79.  UNEMPLOYMENT.  By  A.  C.  Pigou,  M.  A.,  Professor  of  Political 
Economy  at  Cambridge.  The  meaning,  measurement,  distribution, 
and  effects  of  unemployment,  its  relation  to  wages,  trade  fluctuations, 
and  disputes,  and  some  proposals  of  remedy  or  relief. 


80.  COMMON-SENSE  IN  LAW.  By  Prof.  Paul  Vinogradoff,  D.  C.  L., 
LL.  D.  Social  and  Legal  Rules — Legal  Rights  and  Duties — Facts 
and  Acts  in  Law — Legislation — Custom — Judicial  Precedents — Equity 
— ^The  Law  of  Nature. 

49.    ELEMENTS  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY.    By  S.   J.  Chapman, 

Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Dean  of  Faculty  of  Commerce 
and  Administration,  University  of  Manchester. 

11.  THE  SCIENCE  OF  WEALTH.  By  J.  A.  Hobson,  author  of  "Prob- 
lems of  Poverty."  A  study  of  the  structure  and  working  of  the  modern 
business  world. 

1.  PARLIAMENT.  ITS  HISTORY,  CONSTITUTION,  AND  PRAC- 
TICE.    By  Sir  Courtenay  P.  Ilbert,  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

16.  LIBERALISM.  By  Prof.  L.  T.  Hobhouse,  author  of  "Democracy  and 
Reaction."  A  masterly  philosophical  and  historical  review  of  the  subject. 

5.  THE  STOCK  EXCHANGE.  By  F.  W.  Hirst,  Editor  of  the  London 
Economist.  Reveals  to  the  non-financial  mind  the  facts  about  invest- 
ment, speculation,  and  the  other  terms  which  the  title  suggests. 

10.  THE  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT.  By  J.  Ramsay  Macdonald,  Chair- 
man  of  the  British  Labor  Party. 

28.  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  INDUSTRY.    By  D.H.MacGregor,  Professor 

of  Political  Economy,  University  of  Leeds.  An  outline  of  the  recent 
changes  that  have  given  us  the  present  conditions  of  the  working  classes 
and  the  principles  involved. 

29.  ELEMENTS  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  By  W.  M.  Geldart,  Vinerian 
Professor  of  English  Law,  Oxford.  A  simple  statement  of  the  basic 
principles  of  the  English  legal  system  on  which  that  of  the  United 
States  is  based. 

32.  THE  SCHOOL:  AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  EDU- 
CATION. By  J.  J.  Findlay,  Professor  of  Education,  Manchester. 
Presents  the  history,  the  psychological  basis,  and  the  theory  of  the 
school  with  a  rare  power  of  summary  and  suggestion. 

6.  IRISH  NATIONALITY.  By  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green.  A  brilliant  account 
of  the  genius  and  mission  of  the  Irish  people.  "An  entrancing  work, 
and  I  would  advise  every  one  with  a  drop  of  Irish  blood  in  his  veins 
or  a  vein  of  Irish  sympathy  in  his  heart  to  read  it." — New  Yorl^  Times' 
Reoiew. 


GENERAL  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY. 

102.  SERBIA.    By  L.  F.  Waring,  with  preface  by  J.  M.  Jovanovitch, 

Serbian  Minister  to  Great  Britain.  The  main  outlines  of  Serbian 
history,  with  special  emphasis  on  the  immediate  causes  of  the  war, 
and  the  question  which  will  be  of  greatest  importance  in  the  after- 
the-war  settlement. 

33.  THE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND.  By  A.  F.  Pollard,  Professor  of 
English  History,  University  of  London. 

95.  BELGIUM.  By  R.  C.  K.  Ensor,  Sometime  Scholar  of  Balliol  College. 
The  geographical,  linguistic,  historical,  artistic  and  literary  associa- 
tions. 

100.  POLAND.  By  J.  AliwnPhillips,  University  of  Dublin.  The  history 
of  Poland  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  Polish  qustion  of  the  pre- 
sent day. 

34.  CANADA.    By  A.  G.  Bradley. 

72.    GERMANY  OF  TO-DAY.    By  Charles  Tower. 

78.  LATIN  AMERICA.  By  William  R.  Shepherd,  Professor  of  His- 
tory,  Columbia.  With  maps.  The  historical,  artistic,  and  commercial 
development  of  the  Central  South  American  republics. 

18.  THE  OPENING  UP  OF  AFRICA.    By  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston. 

19.  THE  CIVILIZATION  OF  CHINA.  By  H.  A.  Giles,  Professor  of 
Chinese,  Cambridge. 

36.    PEOPLES  AND  PROBLEMS  OF  INDIA.    By  Sir  T.  W.  Holdemess, 

"The  best  small  treatise  dealing  with  the  range  of  subjects  fairly  in- 
dicated by  the  title." — The  Dial. 

26.  THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORY.  By  J.  L.  Myers,  Professor  of  Ancient 
History,  Oxford. 

92.  THE  ANCIENT  EAST.  By  D.  G.  Hogarth,  M.  A.,  F.  B.  A.,  F.  S.  A., 
Connects  with  Prof.  Myers's  "Dawn  of  History"  (No.  26)  at  about 
1000  B.  C.  and  reviews  the  history  of  Assyria,  Babylon,  Cilicia,  Persia 
and  Macedon. 

30.    ROME.    By  W.  Warde  Fowler,  author  of  "Social  Life  at  Rome,"  etc. 

13.    MEDIEVAL  EUROPE.    By  H.  W.  C.  Davis,  Fellow  at  Balliol  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  author  of  "Charlemagne,"  etc. 
3.    THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.    By  Hilaire  Belloc. 

57.  NAPOLEON,  By  H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Vice-Chanccllor  of  Sheffield  Uni- 
versity.   Author  of  "The  Republican  Tradition  in  Europe." 

20.  HISTORY  OF  OUR  TIME.  (1885-1911).    By  C.  P.  Gooch. 

22.  THE  PAPACY  AND  MODERN  TIMES.  By  Rev.  WUIiam  Barry, 
D.  D.,  author  of  "The  Papal  Monarchy,"  etc.  The  story  of  the  rise  and 
fall  of  the  Tempered  Power. 


4.    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE.    By  G.  H.  Perns, 

author  of  "Russia  in  Revolution,"  etc. 

94.  THE  NAVY  AND  SEA  POWER.  By  Dayid  Hannay,  author  of  "Short 
History  of  the  Royal  Navy,"  etc.  A  brief  history  of  the  navies,  sea 
Power,  and  ship  growth  of  all  nations,  including  the  rise  and  decline 
of  America  on  the  sea,  and  explaining  the  present  British  supremacy, 
8.  POLAR  EXPLORATION.  By  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce,  Leader  of  the 
"Scotia"  expedition.    Emphasizes  the  results  of  the  expeditions. 

51.  MASTER  MARINERS.  By  John  R.  Spears,  author  of  "The  His- 
tory of  Our  Navy,"  etc.  A  history  of  sea  craft  adventure  from  the 
earliest  times. 

86.    EXPLORATION  OF  THE  ALPS.    By  Arnold  Lunn,  M.  A. 
7.    MODERN  GEOGRAPHY.     By  Dr.  Marion  Newbigin.    Shows  the  re- 
lation of  physical  features  to  living  things  and  to  some  of  the  chief  in- 
stitutions of  civilization. 

76.  THE  OCEAN.  A  GENERAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF 
THE  SEA.  By  Sir  John  Murray .'K.C.  B.,  Naturalist  H.  M.  S.  "Chal- 
lenger," 1872-1876,  joint  author  of  "The  Depths  of  the  Ocean,"  etc. 

84.  THE  GROWTH  OF  EUROPE.  By  Granville  Cole,  Professor  of 
Geology,  Royal  College  of  Science,  Ireland.  A  study  of  the  geology 
and  physical  geography  in  connection  with  the  political  geography. 

AMERICAN  HISTORY. 


47.    THE  COLONIAL  PERIpD  (1607-1766).    By  Charles  McLean  An- 

drews,  Professor  of  American  History,  Yale. 

82.  THE  WARS  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  (1763-1815). 
By  Theodore  C.  Smith,  Professor  of  American  History,  Williams 
College.  A  history  of  the  period,  with  especial  emphasis  on  The  Re- 
volution and  The  War  of  1812. 

67.  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  LINCOLN  (1815-1860).  By  William  Mac 
Donald.  Professor  of  History,  Brown  University.  The  author  makes 
the  history  of  this  period  circulate  about  constitutional  ideas  and  slavery 
sentiment. 

25.  THE  CIVIL  WAR  (1854-1865).  By  Frederick  L.  Paxson,  Professor 
of  American  History,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

69.  RECONSTRUCTION  AND  UNION  (1865-1912).  By  Paul  Leland 
Haworth.    A  History  of  the  United  States  in  our  own  times. 

OTHER  VOLUMES  IN  PREPARATION 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY    . 

19  West  44th  Street  New  York 


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